The Power Behind Crimson Eyes
by DancingQueen64
Summary: A village is destroyed. Taken to the palace is a girl, the only survivor who was found comatose among the rubble. Her home gone, she’s allowed to stay. As time passes, Atem takes a liking to her. But at the same time more of the girls secrets are reveled
1. Destruction

A small boy walked down to the river to get some washing water

A small boy walked down to the river to get some washing water. He dipped a sun-dried clay jug into the rushing water and pulled it out a few moments later. He figured that since he was here, he might as well get a drink. He cupped his hands into the water. As he drank, he heard someone talking from behind some grass and rocks, it was coming from not too far away.

"Are we all clear on the plan?" a man asked. "Yes." Another man answered. The young boy listened carefully.

"This village isn't very big, so they will go down easily." Another voice chuckled. 'What are they talking about?' the boy wondered. He thought a moment, then gasped slightly and looked behind him. He saw the village the men were talking about. It was his own village down the hill! He turned back around to get his jug but he lost his footing and feel into the river with a small cry. The men heard his yell, and they looked to see a boy climbing out of the river. The boy heard them laughing and turned to see their faces. He took one look and his eyes widened with fear. He left the jug where it lay and ran down to the village as quick as his short legs could carry him.

"They're going to attack us! The village! Run away!" He ran down yelling. People came out of their homes and watched the boy give out his warning. A young girl ran out and caught him by the shoulders.

"Khalil!" she exclaimed, "What is going on? Please calm down!" The boy caught his breath.

"The Tomb Raiders! They're going to attack us! I heard when I was getting water from the river!" the girl seemed a bit more interested. She heard whinnying of horses and looked up to see the Tomb Raiders looking down at them from above upon the large sandy dune. She swore under her breath as she ran into the home she had come out of with the boy. Both then waited in the farthest and darkest corner as she heard the army of pillagers run though the streets.

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The daylight shone brightly on the palace. The Kingdom of Egypt was at a new day. But there was one room in the palace that was still dark. A short man pushed back the curtain to the room. He stood as a dark figure from the light from outside

"My Prince," the figure spoke. "It is morning. We have a meeting today." He squinted over to the bed and saw something move from under the sheets. "Prince Atem, are you awake?" he heard some moaning from the bed. The man walked over to the other side of the room and slightly opened another curtain blocking the window. Sunlight came through the opening. Then the man looked at the bed again. He saw the prince looking at him sleepily from under his covers.

"Tell me Shimon," he said, "How long has the sun been up?"

"A few hours." Shimon answered.

"Alright." he said. "I'll be up in a few minutes. Where is the meeting taking place today?" he asked as he started to get out of bed. Shimon let a little more sunlight come in as the Atem walked over to another part of the room to change.

"The meeting will be by the courtyard." Shimon stated. "I will see you there in a bit." He bowed and left the room. After Atem was changed, he fully pushed back the curtain to the window. The room flooded with warm, bright sunlight. Atem looked over his kingdom. He said something that he had been saying a lot lately.

"I hope my people know that they can count on me to protect them. I want to be a good king." He stared out the window, lost in his thoughts. When he noticed that he had to get to a meeting, he snapped out of it and turned to go out the door. He walked a ways then stopped from something he thought he saw from his window. He went back to his window. His eyes widened. He saw in the distance, dark smoke rising from a village to the open sky.

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A number of pillagers ran through the streets of the small village. People yelled and screamed as their houses burned. The small market was trampled, the food with it. it made a big puddle of mush of ripe tomatoes and other various fruits and vegetables.

"Save some of the food for us you big idiot!" a voice yelled. The girl opened her eyes slightly at the voice. She looked out a window to see nothing but fire, smoke, and people running around franticly. She then saw the person who had spoken. She knew she had recognized the voice from somewhere. The teen crawled over to the opening and peered out. It was Bakura! Better known as King Thief Bakura, she hated him all the same. Probably more then anyone else. Bakura turned his head towards where the girl was, and she ducked before she was seen. She quickly went back to where she was hiding.

"Khalil!" she finally spoke, yet only a harsh whisper, but the little boy was gone! "Khalil...!" she said again a little louder. "Where are you?"

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As Atem looked out onto the horizon he saw about a dozen men on horses speed from the palace stables out into the distance. Atem knew he should go too, and had completely forgotten about the meeting. He mounted on his own horse and ran to the outside walls. As he approached the gate, a servant quickly asked,

"Prince, where are you going so quickly to?" He looked down at the servant and said,

"My people need me," and he was off.

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The young girl was still looking for Khalil. She was beginning to get very worried.

"Looking for something?" a voice said behind her. She spun around to see Bakura looking at her with a smirk on his face. "Do you have anything to give for a weary traveler?" he chuckled. "I suppose you don't remember me from when we first met."

"What do you want?" The girl asked, Bakura looked at her and saw something in her eyes behind all the fear. He grabbed her wrist and started pulling her to the door,

"You're coming with me." The girl fought back.

"No way am I coming with you. Let me go!"

"You won't have much of a choice." Bakura answered. "Maybe if you come with me I could spare some of the meaningless lives in this village...if that'll make you happy."

There was a big explosion and the walls stared to crumble. The girl protested,

"I'd be happy if you let go of me. So leave me and my village alone and get lost!" she managed to break free, and Bakura tried to grab her again.

"You're coming with me weather you like it or not!!" he yelled.

"NO!" she screamed, and with that a black wall of energy came out in front of her, saving her from Bakura's destruction of her home, but still knocking her unconscious.

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Atem rode to the village, wondering who did this and hoped many people were still alive. My people are depending on me... He thought. As he neared the village, he saw pure panic and madness. People were running into the streets as their houses set fire. Atem went to the middle of the town and looked around. He got off his horse and stopped a young boy running.

"Tell me," he said. "Who did this?" the boy was shaking.

"I-It was the P-Pillagers..." stuttered before he ran away. Atem stood and got back on his horse and continued riding through the streets. He was looking for someone from the palace, one of those who he saw from his bedroom window, that or the criminal person behind all the destruction. He could not find anyone. He tried to stop someone who could give him any kind of information.

"Excuse me-- Hey Miss-- You There I-- ...WHAT'S GOING ON?!" He shouted, his sudden voice caught a woman's attention.

"It's Bakura's doing, My Pharaoh.: She answered quickly. "It was Bakura and his pillagers!" Atem nodded in understanding.

"Do you know where he could be?"

"I saw him running towards the east side of the village." The women answered. Atem thanked her and was off again. As Atem rode, he heard a voice.

Prince Atem! We're here!" Atem looked to see Mahad, Seto, and Shada riding on their horses towards him.

"What's going on?" asked Shada.

"Bakura is destroying the village." Atem answered, "We must find him and stop him!" They all nodded. "He's headed east." Atem continued. "Let's move out."

Bakura angrily walked through another sector of the village.

"That girl will pay..." he mumbled. "And I know how to do just that. Heh... I'll make an offer she can't refuse. And if not, I'll happily do it by force!" He stopped when he saw a white horse. Be backed away behind a crumbled wall.

"...A woman I talked to said Bakura would be around here." Atem said over his shoulder. "He can't be too far."

Bakura smirked. "Ah, Prince Atem. What a nice surprise." He thought. "I thought you would come, so I have something special in store for you..."

The east streets were not as crowded as Atem, Mahad, Seto, and Shada rode through.

"You said earlier that about ten men came here before you." Mahad noted. "Where are they now?" Atem sighed,

"I don't know. Hopefully safe, perhaps at the palace."

"What cowards." Seto scoffed. Shada shook his head and they continued looking.

Atem thought for a moment.

Let's split up and search," he said. "There are people who need help... Mahad? Why don't you help the village people over where we were before?" Mahad nodded and rode off towards the panicked screams. "Seto and Shada... Seto can go north, and Shada can head south. Find and help anyone in danger, and keep an eye out for Bakura." He finished, pointing in two different directions.

"What will you do, Prince Atem?" Shada asked. Atem answered, "I'll be in the east quarter and be looking as well. Find Bakura and take him down."

"Be safe." Seto acknowledged. Atem reassured him and the three went their different ways.

Bakura moved swiftly as to not be seen through the back ways of the village. "My plan is coming together," he though to himself.

"Hello? Anyone here?" Bakura heard. He saw Atem looking around for anyone who needed help.

"He's making it too easy," Bakura whispered with a smirk.

"It's really quiet here..." Atem thought. No one's around. Suddenly a spear went whizzing in front of Atem's horse. Another one came from behind. Atem barley had time to react as a third one went by. The horse bucked him off and galloped away. Atem got sat up from his lying down position and groaned. He looked around for anymore spears or weapons. Nothing. "What was that?" He asked himself. "someone obviously doesn't want me here." His thoughts were interrupted by a high, weak voice from inside a ruined home.

"Hello?" Atem called out. There was no answer. He walked slowly to where the voice had come from. He stood in the doorway before going inside, but found nothing. He walked over to a doorway and pushed back the curtain. There was still no one there, just a dark room. Someone must have taken a young girl, it sounded like, away. Maybe Bakura...? A few moments passed and he heard something from outside. He pushed back the curtain again and came face-to-face with Diabound. "Oh, great." He muttered. He got ready to fight. Bakura came around from behind his monster, and before Atem could summon a monster, Bakura just chuckled and yelled out "Attack!" Atem braced for impact, but instead, Diabound's attack hit beside Atem, making the rest of the house crumble.

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Mahad ventured the west side of the village. All the people were gone. He suddenly sensed something wrong. He quickly looked around, got on his horse, and rode as fast as he could east, where Atem was. "Are you alright Prince Atem?" he asked himself.

Shada and Seto were walking through the barren streets, searching for any one in need of help. Shada stopped at one house in particular and peered inside. "Seto, come here." Shada said.

"Do you sense something?" Seto asked. Shada looked around and nodded.

"Yes, I do." They both entered the home. They both started looking around. Seto suddenly went to a far dark corner. "Shada, look." Seto spoke.

"It's a young girl." Shada came over and saw the black-haired girl lying on the ground. "She's still breathing. She's the one we must have sensed." Shada said. He took out his Millennium Key and held it by the girl. Shada was shocked. After a moment he spoke, "She has a great power within her."

Seto replied, "We should take her to the palace, maybe we could use her." Shada argued back.

"We could at least get some kind of information about what exactly when on here. But what I don't get is that this girl is in the middle of an open area, and the fallen stone walls are around her. What could have done this? Maybe her power?" He turned his head to the sound of a galloping horse. He suddenly saw Mahad go by. Seto came out carrying the girl.

"He's heading to the east quarter, where Prince Atem is." Seto stated. They both knew something was up. They mounted the girl on the horse and Seto walked them both to the palace. Shada rode towards where Mahad was headed.

"Where are you Prince?" Mahad whispered to himself as she wandered around the streets. Shada came up behind him.

"What's wrong Mahad?" He asked.

"I feel that something has happened to Prince Atem," He replied. "I cannot find him anywhere." They both started searching. After a few minutes, they saw Atem somewhat stumbling out of some ruins holding his arm.

"Prince Atem!" they both said as they ran to him. Atem was a little roughed up from the collapse. "Are you all right?" Shada asked. Atem answered,

"I've been better. Where's Bakura?" They both shook their heads. Atem closed his eyes and sighed. After a moment's rest, the three of them head back to the palace. The sun almost had set, and Atem was determined to stop Bakura before he attacked again.

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A couple days passed since Bakura's attack. In his room, Atem sat on his bed, facing out the window. He was now much more rested and he began to recall the incident from before. He fell back on his bed and closed his eyes. A few minutes later he thought he had heard something. Atem ignored it until he heard it again, like something near moving around. Atem opened his eyes just a little. A girl's head suddenly popped into his view causing Atem to jump a little. "Mana! You scared me!" Atem stated. Mana gave a little giggle and said,

"Sorry. I'm just checking on ya!" The two friends began talking as Mana brought up an interesting subject. "Hey," She began, "Did you know about a girl found in the rubble? There were no even rocks around her. It was weird. It's what Mahad told me and Shada and Seto told him." Atem was a little curious.

"A girl? Where is she now?"

"She's in a resting room. She was just starting to wake up when I passed by... You haven't been up too much. It's probably why you don't know." Mana answered. Atem stood and started walking towards the door.

"I'll go see her. I have some things I want to ask about what happened."

"Shada's idea!" Mana sang. "I'll lead the way!" Mana sprung from her seated position and ran ahead of Atem. As they neared the room, Mana quickly spun around. "Last time I saw her, she was sleeping." Mana informed the prince. Each word she spoke got more and more quiet. "So shh..." Atem nodded and smiled. Atem knew that Mana had always acted this way, even when they were kids. Mana and Atem stood in the doorway, making the room slightly darker. Just like Mana said, there was a girl in the room. She sat on the bed, her long black hair reaching down her back and her crimson eyes stared off into space. "Hey there," Mana said nicely from the doorway. The girl turned and smiled at the words, but none for herself to say. Mana continued, "Can I come in?" The girl nodded,

"Yes, you may." she spoke quietly. Atem and Mana both entered the room. The girl asked, "Can you tell me where I am?"

"You're at the palace." Atem answered.

"T-The palace? Wow... " The girl stuttered. Mana nodded. After a few minutes of the girl being in awe of where she was, Mana spoke again.

"My name is Mana, and this is Atem. Erm... Prince... Atem"

"Hello." Atem smiled. The girl smiled back.

"Hello... My name is...Anika." She said softly. 'The Prince? Right here? Wow again! He seems really nice, as I thought he'd be. And I get to meet him!' Anika thought, and still, to her own surprise, remained calm.

"Oh...I like that name." Mana started, "So did you ever--"

"Mana?" She was cut off and she sighed.

"Hey Mahad!" She said like she wasn't skipping her lessons. "What's up?" Mahad shook his head.

"You can't be late." he said. Mana sighed.

"Nice meeting you Anika. I'll be back after my magic lesson if you want." Anika smiled.

"Sure." Atem nodded to Mana as she left. He sat by the bed.

"Hey." he said. Anika was a little nervous.

"Hey" She echoed. Atem drew in a breath and began speaking again.

"Are you doing ok?"

"Yes, I'm fine... I know where I am now." Anika answered, however she had a question of her own." But can you tell me how I got here?" Atem responded,

"Mana told me that one of our priests brought you here after..." he trailed off. Anika was a little hesitant.

"After...what?" she asked. Atem sighed heavily.

"...After...Bakura...destroyed your village..." Anika gave a small gasp as she suddenly went into a flashback.

Bakura's face, the flames, the destruction, the pain... "Anika...?" Atem murmured, drifting into her thoughts. "Are you all right?" Anika got out her trance.

"I'm...sorry... I was just thinking... I can see it all, it's right in front of me, but I can't seem to remember..." Atem nodded, showing he understood.

"You just woke up." He stated. "However, I think you still need to rest, it'll be easier on you later." and said,

"Thank you, Prince." Anika smiled.

"You can call me Atem." Atem replied, and Anika's smile grew a little.

"Alright." She said. A few seconds later,

"And you're welcome." Atem stated. "Do whatever you need to get better. Let me know if you need anything. You're the guest here."

"Ok." Anika said as Atem left the room so she could sleep. "There is something about her." Atem thought to himself. "What could it be?"

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Anika awoke the next day. She got out of bed and stood in the doorway. After looking up and down the hall, she decided to explore a little. Walking up and down corridors, going from room to room. Her journey took her from a small hallway to a larger room. It was lit with morning sunlight.

"Anika?" She heard. She jumped to see Atem standing on another side of the room.

"Oh...Atem... I--I..." "I'm in trouble! I know it!" She thought. Atem asked,

"Did something wake you?" Anika, still startled, shook her head.

"J-just looking around..." Atem looked at her,

"If you are so curious, I could give you a little tour while you're here." He smiled a little. "I have nothing planned." Anika calmed down.

"I guess it'd be alright... if it's not in your way." She said quietly. "Not at all." Atem stated ,then asked, "Are you hungry?" And invited her to breakfast.

The breakfast was great, but to Anika it was wonderful. She'd never seen so much food at once! She ate happily, but politely. After the meal, the tour began as Atem showed Anika around the palace. About half-way through to tour, Anika looked out a window,

"Wow! What a great view!" she exclaimed. Atem looked out the window, too.

"It is a great view." Atem agreed. "You can see so far out." As Atem turned back around, Anika realized that they were facing her village, and she should be able to see it right on the edge of the horizon, but there was nothing. Anika was concerned, but kept walking. Atem showed her the rest of the palace, but the thought of her village never left her mind.

Later and into the night, Anika and Atem were in the guest room where Anika was staying. Atem had a small request to ask of her.

"Tomorrow, I'd like to ask you some questions about what happened a few days ago, if you're comfortable talking about it." Atem mentioned. Anika nodded.

"It's alright. I'd be glad to help." She stated. Atem thanked her.

"Good night." He said.

"Good night..." Anika echoed. After Atem was out of the room, She lied down on the bed. What happened to my village exactly? Why am I the only one here? Where is everyone else? She gasped when a horrible thought crossed her mind. No way, she continued thinking. Anika wanted to know the truth. She waited for about a half hour before getting up to peer out of her room. She quietly and quickly slipped out of her room, through the hallways, and outside into the courtyard. The guard were out, but most were in one particular area. And to Anika's luck, the front gate was slightly ajar. Good, Anika thought. This is something I want to do alone with no mess. She went though the gate and walked towards the village.

Anika it was the dead of night as Anika neared her village. She climbed up on a dune, and as she reached the peak, she gasped at what she saw below. Nothing but rubble. Her village was gone. She slowly walked though the streets. "No..." she whispered. "This can't be..." she was shaking a little. She ran to her home, there was nothing there either. She just stood and stared. Anika trembled as she stood in the middle of the destruction. She stood there for a very long time

"I thought I'd find you here." A voice said from behind her. Anika gasped and spun around to see a dark figure walking towards her from the shadows.

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	2. Memories & Nightmares

"Who's there?" Anika demanded, trembling even more. Atem stepped completely out of the shadows, and Anika calmed down a bit. "Atem..." she breathed, surprised to see him. "What are you..."

"It's alright; I didn't mean to scare you." The prince said, walking towards her. "Why is he here?" Anika thought to herself.

"How did you find me? How did you know I was here?" she asked softly. "How did you know I had left...Why did you some looking for me at all?" Anika's mind was flooded with questions.

"Do you remember Mahad?" Atem began. Anika nodded before he continued, "He was passed by your room and saw that you weren't there. One of the guards outside claimed that he had seen you leave through the gate just as Mahad and I were talking about it. I figured that you'd be here... It is your home." Atem ended his story softly. There was no point denying what she did. Anika sighed and looked down away from Atem.

"It _was_ my home, now there's nothing left." She murmured. Her eyes drifted back to Atem. "Why did you come looking for me?" she repeated. Atem looked slightly away.

"Well..." Atem started. "Usually my guests don't go running off. And with what just happened, I don't think it's very safe to be wandering around alone out here. I just wanted to know you were alright. It's my job to keep the people of Egypt safe. And you're one of those people, Anika." He smiled lightly. Anika turned half way around. She began feeling a bit strange.

"I appreciate the care and hospitality..." she whispered. "But why only me?" she thought. There was a long pause, neither said anything. Anika broke the silence. "It's all clear to me now."

"What is?" Atem asked. Anika replied,

"What happened here... I remember it clearly... Rumor has it that Bakura uses smaller villages like mine like a practice stage for pillaging of bigger towns. What happened that day, Bakura and his men came down that hill," Anika explained, pointing towards it. Atem's eyes followed the direction as Anika continued, "They went though the streets, burning everything and breaking anything in their way. I thought they'd never stop. Everything was frantic, people were screaming. Bakura grabbed me, but then I was knocked unconscious soon after." Anika dropped her hand back to her side before crossing her arms across her. "The next thing I knew, I was in the palace..." Atem nodded, but was still concerned.

"Bakura grabbed you? Why?" He asked. Anika tensed up t the question. She knew perfectly well why. She was also surprised that Atem showed so much interest in the subject.

"I really... I don't really know." Anika lied, "He just...did."

"Well, if Bakura is after you, and he recently attacked here, this isn't the safest place for you to be." Atem stated, walking towards the black-haired girl. Anika faced him and looked in his eyes. "I don't understand," she thought. "I don't understand why he cares so much..." a sudden chill ran down her spine as she let out a small gasp. Anika surveyed the area from where she stood.

"Is something wrong?" Atem asked. Anika looked at him again.

"Someone else is here." She said briefly, tensing. Atem looked around. Something didn't feel right as Atem tensed up as well. There was only a breeze, but it made Anika shiver. Atem broke the silence between them.

"Why don't we get out of here now, Anika." he said after looking around again. "We should go back to the palace," he said, turning towards his horse Anika followed slowly behind.

"Sure... That'd be alright And I--"

"Not so fast," said a voice. Anika stopped in her tracks as her eyes grew wide with fear. She knew that voice anywhere. Anika's body whipped around to see Bakura walking out of a partly collapsed home. "The girl's coming with me." he said with a smirk. Anika stepped back. Atem walked up to Anika and stepped in front of her, blocking Bakura's path to her.

"What do you want with her?" he asked sternly. Bakura stood in the moonlight.

"Is it really any of business of yours of what goes on between the people below you?" Bakura mocked. Bakura's words infuriated Atem

"Because I'm prince of Egypt it _is_ my business." The prince scowled. "My people are important to me. You, however, can just leave!" Bakura stood there, not saying anything, and then started to leave. The thief disappeared into the darkness. "Too easy." Atem thought. He stood still for a few moments, waiting for Bakura to make his next move. Atem began to relax a little. "Alright, Anika." He said, still facing away from her. "I guess we can go now."

"You thought I'd let her go like that?" Bakura laughed out from behind the Anika. He suddenly grabbed Anika below her shoulders and began taking her away. "You can't hide it." Bakura whispered in Anika's ear.

"Let go of her!" Atem demanded. Anika's heart skipped a beat when she heard Atem say those words. The strange feeling came back to her; however this wasn't the time to be thinking about other matters.

"Make me." Bakura taunted as Anika struggled against him.

"Let me go you jerk!" she grunted. Bakura threw the girl to the ground, causing her to fall hard on the sand. Bakura now stood above her.

"I'll do what I want with a weak little girl like you." he sneered. Anika's fear took over as she tried to get away. Bakura was still faster than her as he grabbed her arm before she could get any further. He knew that if he kept her afraid, he'd win. Make her mad and this fight would be for nothing. Atem ran towards Bakura and pulled him away from Anika. Bakura stumbled back about three feet before Atem drove his fist towards Bakura. Bakura had no time to escape Atem's attack as a fist met the left side of his face, sending him to the ground.

"Anika!" Atem yelled over his shoulder. "Get out of here!" Anika just stood there, trembling.

"I can't." she murmured.

"Anika!" Atem yelled to her. "Now!" Anika shook her head and took off running to Atem's horse. Something made her stop half way to her destination and looked back.

"I can't have him fight Bakura alone." she said to herself. Her crimson eyes almost glowed for a spilt second as she began running towards to two young men fighting. Anika let out a cry as she made a fist with her right hand and aimed it at Bakura. Caught off guard at this attack, he took a step back. Changing the place where Anika originally wanted to hit him. Anika leaned forward as her fist hit Bakura's chest. Bakura was angry now.

"Little bitch." He said under his breath. He turned his attention away from Atem to get back at Anika.

"Big mistake." Atem said as he finished Bakura off by hitting him hard in the stomach. Bakura doubled over in pain, coughing. Bakura's eyes slowly closed as he collapsed on the desert sand.

"Whoa..." Anika whispered.

"That was a little too easy," Atem admitted, breathing hard not much for the battle, but from his frustration. He looked down at Bakura. "...He'll be back." Atem said disapprovingly. He turned to Anika. "But for now, we'd better get back to the palace, where it's safe." He sighed as he relaxed all throughout his body and began walking from where he came in from. He noticed that Anika hadn't been following him. He turned back to see Anika looking out among the destroyed homes and shops. Atem walked back to her and put his hand on her shoulder. She jumped slightly at the sudden touch. "It'll be alright..." Atem assured her. He led her back to where his horse stood, its reigns wrapped around a tall slab of rock that still stood. Atem got on his horse and held his hand towards her. "Let's go." he said.

"...ok..." Anika whispered. Anika looked around. She nervously got on. Atem made sure she was on right.

"Now hold on." He instructed. Anika looked a little confused.

"To...what?" she asked.

"To me." Atem told her. Anika hesitated at first, but slowly her arms made their way around Atem's waist. "I wonder if..." Anika's thoughts railed off as both of them rode back to the palace.

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"Are you sure about this?" Anika asked, looking around a larger room than the room she had stayed at the previous night. Atem nodded. He had suggested Anika move to a type of "royal guest suite".

"I think you'll be more comfortable here. There's much more room." Atem told her. Anika couldn't give it much thought. "I'll see you in the morning." Atem said before he left the room. Anika turned around to see him leave. After a few seconds Anika walked up to the doorway, and cautiously pulled the curtain shut. After that, there wasn't much for Anika to do.

"I guess... he wants me to stay here." Anika whispered to herself as she made her way to the bed. "But for what reason?" she questioned as she lie down on the bed. She tucked her self in, and was fast asleep within minutes.

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A few days passed, everything seemed to be quite calm and quiet. Anika liked it in the palace. She would often talk to Atem whenever he was not busy, was becoming friends with Mana and Mahad, and could recognize many of the people at the palace. However, some second thoughts would trouble Anika at times. These second thoughts were caused by a dream, or maybe even a nightmare, that the girl had been having for the past couple of nights. It got to a point while she was thinking about it that she felt like she needed to tell someone. She decided that Atem would be the one to talk to about it. She had seen him walking down the hall and stopped him. Anika was a little nervous at first, but she managed to ask Atem if they could talk. Atem accepted the request and the two of them sat down in Atem's bedroom.

"I've been having the same dream for a few nights..." she stuttered a little, looking down at the ground.

"What kind of dream? What happens?" Atem asked.

"It's like a replay of what happened when my village was attacked." Anika explained, her attention now turned towards Atem. "Bakura was there, and when I saw him, I would try and hide, but it was no use." Shivers made their way up her spine. The memory still haunted her.

"Anything else?" Atem urged her on, curious and concerned.

"Bakura kept telling me, 'It's no use hiding in the palace, no use at all.' I would try and fight him, but he's to strong. And I can still hear all the cries from the people in my village..." Anika's voice started to get higher as she spoke the last sentence. She was scared from what happened. Atem placed a strong, stable hand on Anika's shiver shoulder.

"It's alright, Anika." Atem told her. "You _are_ safe here." He assured her. "No need to worry." The prince smiled warmly, and as soon as Anika caught sight of it she couldn't help but smile a little herself.

"Thank you," she whispered.

"Anytime." Atem replied. Atem left the room after a while, and the two went their separate ways. "Prince Atem?" Isis called out to Atem.

"Yes?" the prince replied.

"There's something urgent I need to tell you." Isis said bluntly. Atem nodded as Isis led him to where Isis did her predictions. After a little while she spoke,

"Late last night, I saw further into the future then I have for a while. And although it was cloudy, I was able to get some pieces together." Atem asked,

"What were you able to see?"

"What I could see was someone nearing the palace that had a large amount of power. It seems that they were looking for something...I do not know what." Atem understood. "It could be Bakura..." He thought. "It fits...and what of Anika's dream of Bakura...?"

"Thank you Isis. Let me know if that vision gets any clearer."

"Right, of course." Isis nodded. Atem began to walk around the palace, looking for Anika.

"Should I tell her about Isis' prediction?" he wondered. "There's a slim chance there could be a connection... And maybe I--" he cut his sentence short when he saw Anika staring out a window. He stopped and tried to figure out what she was looking at. When he figured it out from when he looked out his bedroom window that one morning, from the tour he gave her, and when Anika had just told him. She was looking at what was supposed to be her village on the horizon. Atem backed up and peered around the corner. "She really misses her home..." he thought, looking down. As he looked back up again he saw a tear run down Anika's face. Atem watched her for a moment. He went back behind the corner and debated whether or not he should leave. After a few seconds he slowly walked over just as Anika wiped a tear off her cheek.

"Anika? Are you alright?" he asked. Anika quickly put her head in her hands casually, and held back any tears.

"Yeah, I'm fine." Anika lied, trying not to mutter. Atem sighed and walked over to her a little more.

"I know it's really hard... to except." Atem told her. Anika looked at him.

"What do you mean?"

"About your village. It's hard excepting the facts... the reality of it all..." "You have no idea." Anika thought. "...At least now, you're safe." Atem finished. Anika shrugged and continued to look out the window, tears dwelling behind her eyes.

"I just wish it never happened..." Anika trailed off in a whisper. After a long silence, Atem spoke.

"It'll be ok. We'll get Bakura back for what he did. He can't continue to do this." He paused. "Isis told me about a vision she had." he began, it seemed that he was still debating to tell her or not. "She saw someone nearing the place that had a great amount of power. Even thought her vision was clouded, I thought of the possibility that it could be connected to your dream." Anika looked at him.

"But, how could they be connected? My dream has to do with the past, and Isis' visions are of the future. And with my dream, Bakura's attacking my village, not the place and..." she shuddered suddenly.

"Something wrong?" Atem asked.

"It's something that happened in my dream." Anika answered. "When Bakura grabs me, it almost feels like he's getting stronger each night." Atem nodded in understandment.

"Well," he started, "even in the short time that you have been here, I think you have become a little stronger yourself." Anika looked at him, surprised at his words but believing every one. "And the events that took place that fateful day would give anyone nightmares." Atem told her. "I've had nightmares about things that happened earlier in my life." Atem confessed, a slight embarrassed look on his face mixed with a smile.

"No..." Anika laughed.

"Oh yes." Atem laughed along with her. "Would the prince of Egypt lie to you?" he winked.

"Probably not." Anika answered. Atem looked out at the horizon. "Just know this, you're here in the palace, you're safe from Bakura." Atem told her. "And my room is just a bit down the hall from your new one, so I'll be near by if anything were to happen." Anika looked up at him and smiled.

"I don't think I'll be as quite afraid of that dream anymore...Thank you." Atem smiled grew a bit.

"You're welcome." he replied. "I should be off now." Atem said. He looked down the hall. "I should go, I'll see you later."

"'kay." Anika bobbed her head in a single nod as she watched Atem leave.

After darkness had fallen, Anika made herself comfortable in her new bed in her new room. "I had a good day today. A much better one..." she sighed as she closed her eyes. One of her second thoughts tugged from the back of her mind, but it soon ended just as Anika fell asleep.

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Anika opened her eyes to a dark room. Surveying her surroundings, it appeared to be the room that she fell asleep in. And yet, something seemed different. "I'm still a bit tired." Anika figured, "I wonder if it's morning yet." She walked over to the doorway and pushed back the curtain which served as a door A tall shadowy figure loomed before her. Anika's eyes drifted to the face of the figure before letting out a short gasp. Her eyes grew wide as the figure spoke.

"Hello." Bakura smirked.

"What do you want?" Anika demanded, trying not to show much fear. The crimson-eyed girl took steps back into the room.

"I would have thought you'd know by now what I want." Bakura chuckled. "Come with me peacefully and you won't get hurt... Or anybody else, for that matter."

"What does that mean?" Anika asked trembling. Bakura stepped aside from the doorway, reveling what seemed to be another realm within a room. Anika saw Atem trying to fight off Bakura's monster Diabound. Atem was losing.

"What's going on?" Anika asked frantically. She tried to get past Bakura but he stood strong, "How is this possible?!" Anika questioned.

"It all has to do with power," Bakura explained. "I can do things you couldn't imagine. And with you, I could do so much more..."

"What...!" Atem looked left to see Anika trying to get past the thief to him.

"Get out of here Anika!" Atem yelled at her, "Hurry!" the sound of his voice made Anika freeze, she was terrified of what she was seeing. Bakura lowered himself so he was at eye-level with the girl.

"So. Are you coming or not? You do know what will happen if you don't, right?" Bakura backed away again to show Anika the rest of the duel. She saw Diabound's snake-like body slowly slithering to the back of Atem. Within seconds, Atem was wrapped up in its tail. Anika pushed back Bakura with all her strength and ran towards Atem,

"Atem...! _NO!!_" She cried out. Atem seemed to get further away from her with each step she took. Anika tried to quicken her pace, but she suddenly tripped and fell to the ground. She could hear Atem struggling to get free. Anika held her head tightly in her arms as she cried again, "_NOOO...!!_"

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A/N: Alright, chapter two is all edited and it's up for reading! (obviously! lol) I did edit it a bit when Anika was telling Atem about her dream. It just seemed too vague for me. I think it makes a lot more sense now. -nodnod-

I'm sorry Atem fans; I had to put Atem through all that at the end. Trust me, I was freaking out about it tool. Lol. (Bakura... he scares me. XD)

Thanks for reading! :)

Hey! There's a poll I've put up! I would really appreciate your input. ) You can find the poll at the top of my homepage/profile. This poll would really help me in my writing. Please vote!

-DQ64


	3. Maleviolent Visions

"_Atem! No_!" Anika cried as she suddenly jolted from her bed. Her eyes were wide, searching in the darkness as her heart pounded. She was still breathing hard as she shakily rose from her bed and walked towards the doorway. Once the curtain was only inches away from her face, she hesitated. The image of Bakura reappeared in her mind before she shook her head, erasing the picture. She slowly pulled back the curtain at first, letting a little light in the room. She closed her eyes and forcefully thrust the curtain all the way back. Her eyes opened slowly to see only an empty hallway. At this time, her breathing was under control. Anika quickly peered up and down the hall before walking quickly to Atem's room across the hall. A little worried at first, she quietly poked her head in the doorway. Through the darkness she could hear the prince breathing. She squinted her eyes and saw that Atem was comfortably in his bed. Anika sighed in relief. She put the curtain in its original place before venturing down the hall. "What a nightmare..." Anika whispered to herself, resting underneath a window. "It was like the dream before, but this time, Atem was involved. Could they be related?" Anika wondered. "Could it possibly mean anything...?" the black-haired girl sat still for a few minutes with her head on her knees. She closed her eyes for a bit and fell into a light sleep.

"Anika...?" a voice said quietly, Anika opened her eyes a bit and looked to her left to see Atem kneeling on one knee, his hand on her shoulder. Anika's eyes opened wide as she smiled.

"Atem!" she exclaimed "You're safe! I mean...You... Mm... Never mind." Anika began blushing, a little embarrassed from her sudden outburst.

"Yes, I am safe." Atem let out a small chuckle. 'She probably had another nightmare...' Atem figured. "Are you alright?" Atem asked. Anika nodded, but then shrugged her shoulders. Her lips parted slightly, as if beginning to say something, but no words formed. She began the process again, this time she asked,

"Is something wrong?" Atem's eyes looked down for a brief moment. "This may or may not have happened, but at one point during the night, I thought I heard you calling out to me. Are you alright?" He repeated. Anika closed her eyes, hung her head down and sighed.

"I had another nightmare." She admitted. Atem nodded. He was right.

"The same one?" Atem questioned. Anika shook her head.

"It was different this time. That why... I was scared... I'm sorry if I woke you." Atem mimicked Anika and shook his head no.

"It's ok." He told her. "What happened in your dream that made you scared? " Atem asked, now taking his place next to Anika along the wall. Anika thought a moment.

"Could we talk to it tomorrow morning?" she requested. "My head is still spinning about it, and I'm still pretty tired." Anika demonstrated through a yawn. Atem understood and put his hand on her shoulder. "Then get some rest." He said. Anika and Atem stood at the same time and walked side-by-side down the hall to the different rooms. "Have a good night, Anika." Atem spoke as he watched her disappear behind the curtain. As Anika lie on her bed, she pushed out any negative thoughts in her mind. She searched for a happy memory, and clung to it as she slept dreamless the rest of the night.

Anika's eyes slowly opened the next morning. Compared to previous mornings, she had overslept. "Wow. What happened last night?" she said quietly to herself, placing a hand on her head. The teen-aged girl swung her legs over the side of the bed and walked to the doorway. Her hand reached out to the curtain, but hesitated. A chill ran down her spine before she pushed back the drapery. An illuminated hall greeted her with the sun's light. Anika sighed and did her usual "walk-around-until-she-finds-someone-to-talk-to" routine. Soon enough, she saw Mahad walking in the opposite direction.

"Good morning." Anika smiled,

"Yes, good morning," Mahad greeted her, "And just who I was looking for. Prince Atem wanted to talk to you about something. He is in the throne room." Anika thanked him and nodded a farewell as she ran quickly down the hall. It wasn't before long before Anika stood in front of the large double-doors of the throne room. One door was slightly open. As she slowly pushed it open, the door made a grinding sound against the floor. Anika cringed as the sound. The noise caught Atem's attention as he was talking the head guard. Without loosing the conversation, Atem motioned for Anika to come in. Anika stood back a ways so not to interrupt. The guard bowed and took his leave. Anika began to approach Atem on his throne.

"You wanted to talk to me?" Anika mentioned. Atem nodded.

"Just wanted to make sure you were ok. Did you have a good night's rest?" Anika answered,

"Yes, I did. Thank you." There was slight a pause. "I-...I didn't wake you or anything last night did I?" Atem shook his head.

"No. Not really. I was sleeping kind of lightly..." Anika let out a small out sigh.

"Okay... I just didn't want to be in the way of anything." she told him. "That still dream freaked me out." Anika said almost silently, yet Atem still heard her.

"Would you like to talk about it?" Anika jumped slightly and tensed up a bit. She into Atem's eyes, his mood changed when he saw Anika's face from a concerned to a somewhat cheerful expression. He tried to make her laugh. "You seemed glad to see me last night." He mentioned. Anika smiled a little, but then let it fade. She began shaking ever so slightly.

"Well," she began, "In my dream, you were hurt."

"Hurt?" Atem asked as his eyes changed again. "In what way? What had happened?" Anika didn't say anything for a while. Anika's eyes drifted to the around the floor before floating back up to Atem on his throne. Atem patted the arm of the chair, motioning or her to sit near him. Anika took a breath in and began walking towards the throne.

"My dream began with me waking up normally in my room..." she began, taking her place next to Atem. "Yet I was still sleeping. I pulled back the curtain..." Anika went on telling the prince of her nightmare. Atem nodded occasionally, his eyes grew wider when Anika explained to him what happened in his fight with Diabound.

"That was quite a dream..." Atem concluded as he thought about it. Both he and Anika sat still, not saying anything. The silence was broken by an unexpected cry.

"My Prince!" Isis called out to Atem. Atem immediately stood"Something wrong, Isis?" he asked, even though he knew the answer. Isis nodded.

"I have had another vision." She explained. "The palace, and yourself, maybe in danger." Atem's words suddenly flashed through Anika's mind...

"_Isis told me about a vision she saw...Even though her vision was clouded...I thought maybe it could be connected to your dream_..."

"Please, follow me" Isis requested. Atem nodded. He took a glance at Anika, who seemed to be off in her own world.

"Anika?" he called to her. Anika snapped out of her trance.

"Hmm?" she responded. Atem motioned for her to come along. Isis nodded in agreement, and soon the three were off to Isis' private room. It was one of the places Anika hadn't been before. Once there, Isis closed the curtain to have some privacy.

"So what was this vision about? Is it connected to that vision you had before?" Atem asked. Isis turned to face him.

"This vision wasn't as far in the future as the one before. Even so, it seemed a bit vague." Atem understood and said,

"Tell us what you know."

"My last vision included a powerful force nearing the palace." Isis began to explain. "This time, the palace was being destroyed by this force." 'Bakura...?' Anika thought.

"Do you know who or what is behind all this?" Atem asked, Isis shook her head.

"I'm sorry, I don't know." Atem nodded.

"We'll still be ready."

"There's one more part." Isis continued. "This powerful force, they wanted something, they were searching for it. Based on what my vision told me, they were after more power. Prince Atem, it could be _you_ that they are after." Atem looked behind him and saw Anika back a ways looking aside and to the ground. 'If Anika's dream has anything to do with this, it has to be Bakura. But who is he after, exactly?' Atem thought. He looked back to Isis.

"Rest assured. I'm not going to let anything happen to anyone without a fight." He looked back again. Anika was dragging her foot back and forth on the ground. She seemed worried. Isis looked at Anika too. Something caught her attention for a minute, but it soon faded away. Anika picked her head up too see Atem and Isis looking at her. She was a little embarrassed. She gave a little nervous laugh.

"Hi..." she stuttered, still laughing a little.

"Thank you, Isis." Atem said. "Once again." Isis bowed.

"You're welcome. But also, thank you."

"I must get back to the throne, now." Atem stated and motioned Anika to follow. Anika bowed slightly to Isis before going after Atem. As Anika left, Isis suddenly sensed a strange vibe around her. She looked around and saw nothing. The feeling went away as quickly as it had came, sending a chill down her spine.

Mana was cheerfully walking down the halls; a folded cloth was draped over her arms. She continued walking until she realized that she accidentally over shot her target, which then she corrected by taking a few steps backwards until she could be seen in the doorway.

"Anika?" She asked, seeing her friend lying on the bed sideways. Anika looked to the door.

"Hey Mana." She spoke as she rose from her bed. "What's up?"

"Well, you now." Mana answered with a laugh. "I have some time before my next magic lesson so I'd thought I'd pop in."

Anika laughed a little. "What did you bring with you? Something for your lesson?" Anika pointed out the cloth in Mana's hands. The brown-haired girl looked down.

"Oh! No, actually," she said as she handed it over to Anika. "It's for you. Why don't you try it on?" Anika looked at her for a bit, not knowing what it could be.

"What is it?" Anika asked with a smile.

"You'll see!" Mana replied.

"Alright." Anika smiled. "I'll be right back." She went behind a curtain in the room to change. A while later she came out in a tunic that went down three fourths down her legs with deep red trim around the neck, sleeves, and bottom hems. Mana smiled. Anika grinned and giggled.

"It's like it was made for me. It's fits so perfectly!" Mana smile grew.

"I'm glad you like it!" she said "And not to brag, but I did make it all by myself. With no magic." She winked.

"That makes it even nicer." Anika stated. Mana was really pleased with her work.

"I thought it wasn't going to fit at all. But I guess it does! And the trim matches your eyes." Anika looked at the trim around the hems.

"Thank you, Mana. This is a great gift."

"Think nothing of it!" Mana smiled. "It's something new I wanted to try for a while." Anika was walking back and forth in the room, admiring her new outfit. Anika started thinking. 'I can't remember the last time someone was this nice to me... giving me things and all.' Honestly, Anika couldn't remember much about her past at all. She began walking around the room as she continued thinking. 'Atem's real nice to me too. Everyone here seems to be friendly to me. But still I wonder if, I know that I don't truly--' Anika stopped suddenly, forgetting that Mana was still in her room. "Sorry, I went into my own world for a minute." Mana laughed. "Oh really? I didn't notice, I went into my own as well. "

"Did you practice any spells while you were there?" Mahad's voice was suddenly heard. Anika spun around to see the priest in her doorway. "I was just about to...?" Mana said with a nervous laugh, pulling the bed's covers to cover herself.

"She's not late, is she?" Anika asked. Mahad looked at her for a minute from the door way, took a step in and looked at the large lump on Anika's bed. He began to laugh.

"No. Not yet." Mana poked her head out.

"Really?" Mahad nodded.

"Let's go Mana. Before you really _are_ late." Mana jumped out of the bed.

"You had me worried there for a minute!" Mahad just chucked. "You just caught me in a good mood." He told his student. Mana looked back at Anika from the door way.

"Don't hide that tunic I made you from the world ok?" she winked

"Alright, I won't.' Anika laughed. Mana and Mahad disappeared from the doorway, leaving Anika to wonder.

After Mana had left, Anika decided to "not hide the tunic from the world" and wandered to the palace courtyard. She walked to the middle of the area to a small raised pond. Anika looked at her reflection in the water and smiled.

"I'll have to repay Mana for this tunic... It's really great." She noticed a few fish swimming beneath the surface. She knelt down and placed her head in her hands atop of the brick, watching them. She started spacing out, thinking about a lot of random things that have been going on. The more she looked down at the water, the more she began thinking, her mood changed greatly. "I don't belong here..." she whispered so quietly she could barely hear herself. "I haven't forgotten why I'm here. How I got here... My village was destroyed. I was the only survivor. But that's where I belong, in a village. Not the grand palace." She sighed. 'One more day here and I'll start to be on my way. Nothing's going to stop me. I don't --'

"Are the fish fascinating today?" someone asked. Anika saw Atem leaning against a pillar looking at her. Anika was a little startled. She stood and brushed herself off a little.

"What? Oh. No..." she laughed nervously. "No not really. Just thinking... in my own world." She searched for a good line for a conversation. "What's up?"

"Nothing much," came Atem's answer. "Everyone's just taking a break from a meeting... Get up, walk around...'

"Oh..." Anika said plainly and half looked back at the water. Atem walked toward her. He noticed the new tunic.

"Don't you look nice today." He stated. Anika thought she didn't really hear correctly. She made a small sound, followed by a meek

"...Thanks..." She turned and opened her mouth to say something, but before she could a solider called out,

"My Prince, we're getting a plan organized. We're close to perfecting it. Please, come." Atem looked behind him, and then back at Anika.

"That was a short break." Atem laughed. "But I guess I have to go. I'll see you later." He gave a short wave as he turned back around.

After a while, Anika followed the path Atem took back inside. She overheard someone talking from inside a room.

"We have to strengthen our forces. Sometimes mere men won't do the job." Anika realized it was Seto's voice. She listened for a little while longer. Another voice asked,

"What do you propose we do?"

"We have to sacrifice a few civilians." Seto's voice continued. "Get some powerful shadow creatures. Even if it's by force!" Anika gasped. The tone of Seto's voice made her heart skip a beat. Wishing she left earlier, the young girl ran away from the room as the conversation progressed,

"Seto, you're..." a voice trailed off. Once Anika was in her room, she pulled the curtains shut, the only light was the short beams coming out from the bottom. Anika slammed against the nearest wall, clutching her head. A horrid memory began to take shape in Anika's mind.

_"We'll get that girl!"_ a man's voice bellowed, _"She can't hide forever!"_ Anika saw herself as a young girl, trembling in a dark corner of a vacant home. She held a small blue bundle to her chest, praying that no one would see her. _"Once we find her, maybe we could use her as some sort of sacrifice to help with the crops." _Another man laughed. _"She's a danger, that's all."_ The first man spoke. 'And it will happen again.' Anika thought to herself. 'More than likely, it's just a matter of time before it happens again.' Anika took in a long, shuddering breath to try and calm herself down as she made her way to her bed. She went under the covers, still shuddering. But no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't stop the memories from coming back to her. "I don't belong here." Anika said miserably. "But where _do_ I belong?" After a few more minutes of thinking, Anika decided that she was going to leave. She'd leave by starlight the next night. She sighed as a tear went streaked down her face. Even though it was the middle of the day, Anika fell asleep. She lay on her bed in a dreamless slumber until the middle of the night, when the nightmare began. This nightmare was affected by Anika's recent thoughts, changing the details of the dream.

Anika woke to a dark room, just like before. She walked half way to the door when Bakura suddenly wrenched back the curtain. Anika stepped back a little.

"What do you want, Bakura?!" She demanded, fear written all over her face..

"No need to get excited." Bakura said smugly. Anika could see Atem fighting Diabound once again. She started to run towards him, but Bakura stopped her.

"Don't worry about him, come with me, give me what I want, and maybe I'll let him off easy. That's your only choice, really." Bakura quickly stepped forward and grabbed Anika's arm. "You, a measly villager, doesn't belong in the palace." Bakura reminded her, speaking the words Anika had said to herself before. He started dragging Anika away. Anika struggled and wriggled her way out of Bakura's grasp. Bakura, surprised she got free, attempted to grab at Anika again, but she was too far away. She looked at Atem before turning back around to face Bakura.

"I know I don't belong here, but there is no way that I am going go to with you!" She shouted out. She turned and was going to began to run away down the hall.

"Anika! Help!" Atem's cry froze Anika in her tracks with a gasp. Anika spun around and began to go back, but Bakura stood in her way. He forcefully grabbed both of her arms and grinned. He turned to Diabound,

"Kill him." He ordered. Anika's eyes grew wide before squeezing them shut as she cried out Atem's name.

Anika's eyes shot open as she sprung from her bed. She rubbed her arms where Bakura had grabbed her in the dream. She breathing was incredibly shaky. _"Kill him,"_ Bakura's voice trailed through Anika's head. She swallowed hard, and quickly got out of bed and briskly made her way across the hall to Atem's bedroom. She hoped that Atem was safely sound asleep, that's all she needed to see. She pushed the curtain and inch open, waiting to hear a breath, snoring even. There was nothing. Anika pushed the curtain back even further. Through the dim light, Anika could saw an empty bed, the sheets messily pushed to one side. Anika's heart pounded hard once. She placed the curtain back in it's original form before she took a few steps away. Anika's crimson eyes looked up and down the hall, wringing her hands. She was looking up the hall when she heard it, a crash followed by a yell of pain. It came from far down the hall behind her.

"Atem..." she whispered as she spun around and ran towards the yell. The end of the hall opened up to a larger room where Anika had stopped. Atem had his right hand on the wall, the other hand held his right foot.

"Agh... stupid..." Atem muttered to himself after stubbing his toe hard when he tripped over an overturned jug. Anika smiled and giggled lightly, her hands over her mouth. Seeing how she was nervous about what happened, and seeing Atem muttering to himself in the dim light was humorous. Atem looked up to see a young girl, her hands clasped over her mouth, keeping in a laugh that made her shoulders shrug. Atem smiled and looked down. Here was the future king of Egypt, muttering to himself because he has stubbed his toe.

"Are you ok?" Anika asked with a smile still on her face.

"I will be." Atem answered.

"What were you doing here?" Anika went on as she walked towards him.

"I was going to ask you the same thing." Anika didn't react to the statement for a moment.

"You're okay." She finally breathed. "Yes, I'm... fine." Atem responded. Anika sighed. Her speech was fast before she suddenly trailed off.

"I'm relived because when I heard the noise and you yell I thought that something bad was going on and that you were..."

"Severely hurt?" Atem finished for her. Anika dropped her head. She suddenly found herself thrown onto Atem, almost sobbing. "It was... horrible..."

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(A/N:) I decided to end it there before it got too long. Heh heh... sorry it took me a while to get another chapter up. I'm trying not to make these chapters so lengthy. I think I just get ahead of myself sometimes -sweatdrop- I'm working on it! hopefully next chapter will be short(er) and to the point, yeah?

And the Bakura thing. O.O Holy crap I was reacting to that when I was even _writing_ it. I put Anika through so much. lol. Poor girl. XD

If you haven't yet, there's a poll waiting to be taken on my homepage, It would help me with my writing!

Thanks for reading!


	4. Ultimate Battle, Secrets Reveled

Anika woke up the next morning feeling completely refreshed

Anika woke up the next morning feeling completely refreshed. She got up and went straight. The sun was shining brightly, lighting her face. "I wish feeling would last a lifetime..." she murmured. After a while of walking around the courtyard, Anika decided to go back in, and explore the corridors of the palace like she liked to do. As she was trailing her hand along a wall, she heard a voice call out from behind her.

"Anika, hey!" the voice said. Anika turned around and saw Mana. "Morning." She said, greeting her friend. Anika smiled and nodded. "How are ya feeling today?"

"Pretty good, thanks. Better than I have for some time." They talked for a while and Mana left the way she came. Anika went to another window, staring off into the distance as she often did.

"Glad to see you're up and about." Anika jumped a little. "Sorry if I scared you." Atem chuckled.

"It's ok. I was just... spacing out." Anika said. After a while, Anika continued, "Atem... I want to thank you for everything you've done for me. I can't even begin..."

"You don't have to" Atem broke in. "I know. And you're welcome." He smiled. "But now, I have to go. There's a meeting about to start." Anika nodded. Atem turned...

"Wait." Anika breathed.

"Yes?" Atem responded. Anika went up to him and gave him a hug. Atem was a little surprised; he hadn't seen her like this before. Anika took a few steps back. She looked down and the ground, but back up again with an embarrassed little smile. Atem gave out a little laugh himself and turned to go to the meeting. Once Atem and the six priests had gathered in the meeting room, Atem spoke, "Everyone is here, good. Seto..." he gestured towards the man at his right. Seto nodded and began speaking.

"We all know now that Khalidah was the unknown foe. We know who she is, some of what she looks like, but no location." Atem stood.

"I have her hideaway." Everyone looked at him. "It's far across the desert. That's where Anika was, I'm guessing if she moved, she couldn't have gone too far." Shada quickly asked Atem,

"Have you asked Anika if she knows why Bakura and Khalidah are after her?" Atem shook his head.

"She just got up. I will ask her right after this meeting." Everyone started talking. Now Isis stood,

"We do have bigger problems," she said and everyone quieted down. "I had a vision late last night. Bakura is planning a rampage upon the palace." A few nodded and Isis continued,

"Even if we are fully prepared, this may be our greatest fight yet."

"What did you see, Isis?" Mahad asked. "It looked to me like almost a war. Monsters everywhere, Bakura's men having many different plans to have the upper hand no matter what efforts we put out."

"How much time do we have, Isis?" Atem asked. Isis concluded,

"Less then seven days."

Atem had a lot on his mind after the meeting had ended. Still he had to know one last thing. Why were people coming after Anika? Atem saw Anika out of the corner of his eye from a window. She was out in the courtyard. Soon Atem caught up with her.

"Meeting's over." He spoke when she saw him. Anika nodded.

"Getting things done and in order?" she asked.

"Thing are getting there." he said. He laughed shortly before letting out a long breath,

"Is something wrong?" she asked him.

"Can I ask you something?" Atem answered with a question of his own. He motioned Anika to come sit with him on a bench at along the palace wall, out of the sun. Anika was a little confused at first, but followed him and sat down next to the prince. "I wanted to ask you... Do you know why Bakura and Khalidah were after you?" Anika tensed up a little.

"Unfortunately no... I don't. I'm sorry," she stated, looking away.

"It's fine." Atem assured her. "So it's a mystery...still in the same place." he whispered to himself. Anika still heard him.

"What's the mystery?" she asked. Atem looked in Anika's crimson eyes. He wasn't sure if he should tell her or not.

"There was an idea that was tossed around." he began. "When Shada and Seto found you amongst the ruble, they sensed a great power within you." Anika blinked a few times, she held her breath.

'_Do they know...?_' she wondered.

"Later on, they sensed nothing." Anika let go of there held breath slowly.

'Good, everything is fine.' She thought.

"That's strange..." Anika spoke. Atem nodded before continuing.

"The idea that was tossed around was that there may have been something..." Atem trailed off.

"What?" Anika asked, but regretted it. Atem clenched his fist, and looked down.

"We shouldn't have been talking about you behind your back, you weren't even there." Anika shook her head.

"No, no. I-it's fine." She assured him. "Really I don't mind. What were you going to say?" she was now interested. 'I have to know what they know.' Atem looked back up, feeling a little better.

"This may seem a bit crazy, but the idea was that you may have been possessed by something, a dark being of sorts. That's what Bakura and Khalidah could have been after, they thought it was a part of you or something of that matter."

"Oh..." Anika whispered. "That does actually make some sense." 'At least it's not the truth...'

"Here's the bad part." Anika held her breath again. "Isis had a vision, Bakura is planning an attack." Anika let out a small gasp.

"It's not because of me, is it?" she hoped. Atem shook his head.

"No. He's wanted to launch a huge assault on the palace; we've just been waiting for the day to arrive. However, I think it's not his only goal. He knows you're here, so long story short, you may be in danger." Anika suddenly decided as she stood,

"Then I'll leave." Atem looked shocked.

"No! I mean... no, you don't have to. We'll be prepared for the attack, don't you worry. You'll be safe here."

"But I'm putting everyone here in danger!" the black-haired girl protested. Tears started to form in the back of her eyes.

"Anika..." Atem said softly as he stood, "You're doing nothing of the sort. You're not putting anyone in danger."

"I'm just trouble." Anika mumbled as a tear rolled down her face. Atem lifted her chin with one hand and wiped away the tear with his other. He looked straight in her eyes.

"No. You're not." He spoke. After a moment of silence, the prince apologized. "I'm sorry if I upset you.". Anika shook her head. "It's not you... it's me."

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Days seem to pass by quickly as Atem prepared for Bakura's assault on the palace, As for Bakura, miles away from the palace, was planning it.

"Atem." Anika had spoken. "I'm worried. What... what if we can't win?" Atem looked at her.

"We will prevail." He told her. "I'm not going to let anything happen to anyone, especially you."

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Bakura thought his plan over and smiled evilly. Things were going well for him, so well, that he decided to round up all of his men and head out three days ahead of schedule, which translated to the very next morning.

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"Just hand over the girl and the throne and I won't have to kill anybody." Bakura said bluntly.

"You're a fool to think I'll give up that easy!" Atem replied angrily. "Fine. Have it your way." Bakura smirked as the sand in front of him began to shift. Bakura's smile grew and he began to laugh as Diabound suddenly erupted from the desert sand. Anika screamed, "ATEM!!"

Isis' eyes shot open as she sprung from her lying passion on her bed. She began breathing hard, her body shook a bit as she quickly rose off the bed to the hallway. Pacing through the corridors, she finally reached Atem's bedroom. Her eyes shifted back to Anika's room before she decided to peek inside. She saw through the darkness, a girl who seemed so innocent lying on her bed in a deep sleep. Isis quickly moved back across the hall, stopping right at the closed curtain. "Prince Atem?" she asked a little less than quietly. Inside the room, Atem stirred in his bed. "Prince Atem?" Isis repeated, a little louder. Atem opened up his eyes and saw a pair of feet under the curtain. "Yes, who is it?" the sleepy prince answered. "It's Isis." She replied. Atem immediately got up and went out into the hallway. "What is it?" Atem asked. Isis drew in a breath. "Prepare your men as soon as possible." She instructed. "Bakura will attack at mid-day tomorrow."

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Atem had little time to prepare for Bakura's attack. He awoke right at the crack of dawn and immediately started tying up any loose ends and finalizing his game plan. The sun began to rise higher in the sky as the royal guards began to file in front of the palace wall, weapons in hand. Larger arsenal appeared behind the guards, slowly wheeling in their place. Right before mid-day, a cloud of dust appeared in the distance. Bakura was on his way. A guard standing on the palace roof yelled down to the prince,

"Bakura is on the horizon!" Soon the entire palace knew what was to come.

"Everyone, take your place!" Atem ordered. Tension grew with each passing second. Soon smoke began to appear on the horizon. Atem's eyes grew. 'He's burning down another village?!' Atem thought angrily. "How many people must suffer before he's satisfied?" he mumbled to himself. Atem had sent two guards to each village near the palace to lead each villager to safety. He just hoped everyone was alright. Atem stood tall in front of the gate with all six priests, waiting. The dust cloud grew larger as Bakura and his men closed in the target. "This ends right here, right now." Atem said. Anika watched from a window in the palace.

"Atem... please... be careful." She said to herself, as she saw Bakura coming closer. Right at mid-day, Bakura stood in front of the palace. Both he and Atem walked closer to each other.

"For a lowly snake, you sure know how to make an entrance." Atem grunted. Bakura gave a short chuckle before making his offer.

"Just hand over the girl and the throne and I won't have to kill anybody." he said bluntly.

"You're a fool to think I'll give up that easy!" Atem replied angrily.

"Fine. Have it your way." Bakura smirked as the sand in front of him began to shift. Bakura's smile grew and he began to laugh as Diabound suddenly erupted from the desert sand. Anika screamed,

"ATEM...!!" Isis changed her stance, summoning her monster.

"Just as I had predicted," she noted. Atem had jumped out of the way just in time. Now, he smiled as the dust cleared. Bakura looked at Isis. "Just how much of this battle did she predict?" Bakura asked. "If you know how it all goes, this won't be any fun. And after I worked so hard to plan it, too." "Heh, don't flatter yourself." Atem argued, eyeing Diabound, slowly coming closer. "Attack!" he commanded. Weapons fired at Bakura's monster, but to almost no avail.

"Look out!" Seto called out to Atem. The prince got out of Diabound's wave of attack, but it wasn't aimed for the prince. The attack's target was the palace wall, where it hit directly, causing a section of it to crumble. Guards from the inside surrounded fallen wall, walking blindly into the dusty air. Bakura's group of pillagers suddenly came through the wall and attacked Atem's blinded soldiers. Anika looked on in horror before shutting her eyes, facing away from the window. A few strange sounds made her curious enough to look back. Many monsters floated around the palace wall and the palace itself, both attacking and defending. Down below Anika saw Mahad and Mana battling with their magic and spells, but as strong as Atem's men and the priests were, it still wasn't enough. This battlefield was turning ugly as it wore on, men were falling one by one. No one expected Bakura to have _this_ many tricks up his sleeve! Atem looked around for Bakura, but couldn't see him through all the commotion. "_Hand over the girl..._" Bakura had said. "No." Atem gasped as he turned back to the palace. As he turned around, he saw him.

"Looking for me?" Bakura said, coming from behind a pillar.

"Where's Anika?" Atem demanded. Bakura chuckled.

"I figured you still have her stashed somewhere in the palace. I figured to get to her, I have to go through you, seeing how protective you are of her. Here, I'll dumb my plan down for you." Bakura went on, walking towards the prince. He began taking out his sword. "Kill Atem, take the girl, and take control over Egypt." Bakura chuckled again. "the girl being, of course, my main goal."

"Never." Atem breathed, reaching under his cape, brining out his own sword,

"Good, good." Bakura smiled. "You have your own. This wouldn't be much fun if you didn't!" he lunged t Atem with his last sentence, swing at the prince. Atem ducked, barely clearing the weapon. Atem took his turn with his sword, swinging it slightly higher than Bakura did. Bakura caught Atem's sword with his own, the two metals clashed together. The Robber and the Prince pushed each other, grunting ever so slightly. Bakura grinned and quickly raised his sword; Atem, who was still pushing forward, couldn't catch himself enough before Bakura struck down at Atem, creating a cut on his right side. Anika looked below her and saw Atem and Bakura fighting. She suddenly heard Atem yell out; he knelt down on the ground. Anika gasped and backed away from the window. Atem laughed lightly as he got up.

"What... kind of cheap shot was that?" he asked. Bakura growled as he went for Atem again.

"I'm sorry Atem," Anika said, "for not telling you the truth. You're hurt, because of me. This attack was brought to the palace because of me. I'm sorry. There's only one thing I can do now..." Anika closed her eyes as black flames began to rise around her body.

"I know why you're after Anika." Atem scowled, still clashing swords with his rival. Bakura shoved Atem back.

"I figured you'd know. And I'm sure your reason for keeping her here is no different!" he exclaimed. Atem grinned.

"I don't think so," he spoke. Bakura let out a laugh in disbelief.

"You still don't get it. I would have thought you figured it out by now. Hell, you should have _known_ instantly. There's more to that pitiful girl than meets the eye." Atem narrowed his eyes, resuming his sword fight with the thief.

"You... know nothing." He grunted under his breath.

Black flames continued to rise up Anika's body as she stood in a hallway of the palace. "This wouldn't have happened if--" she stopped for a minute. If Atem hadn't saved her, she wouldn't have brought this to the palace, to Atem. "This will be my sacrifice." she spoke. Anika was now swallowed in the black fire. These flames didn't burn her at all; instead, they formed something new. "I won't let this go on any longer..." her voice echoed, almost growing angry. Anika's eyes grew brighter as a wind rushed around her. The black flames dissipated and reveled at mass of black energy taking shape around the girl. The shape grew as Anika was lifted off of her feet. The shape became more recognizable, taking the form of a dragon. Its eyes opened, gleaming as bright red in color. Anika and this dragon were fused into one being. Suddenly, the dragon quickly soared out the window.

Atem was still fighting Bakura down outside the palace. A black figure swooped above them, catching Atem's eye. Bakura looked behind him.

"That's it!" he exclaimed. Atem was in shock. It was a very powerful monster.

"Where did that come from?" he wondered. They both stared at the black dragon as it flew powerfully through the air. Soon everyone had seen the dragon, unknowing where it had come form. Anika, almost completely comatose within the energy in the dragon, looked through the dragon's eyes. She saw the destruction caused by Bakura's attack.

'Now it's my turn to protect you, Atem.' She thought. The dragon landed fiercely in front of the palace, blocking he entrance. Bakura's army tried attacking this new enemy, only to no prevail. Anika had a very limited amount of control over this beast, but with what she could do in her state, she had the dragon swipe the right wing out. The offensive move knocked many of Bakura's men over, knocking them unconscious. The dragon stomped forward and flung many more of Bakura's men out of the palace courtyard, back on the other side of the wall. Bakura was not thrilled about this.

"Who knew she could control it so well." Bakura muttered. "Diabound!" Bakura yelled to his monster. "Kill Prince Atem!" Anika suddenly awoke from her comatose. She grew angry at Bakura's words. The dragon's eyes glowed a fiery red as she controlled the dragon to attack Bakura with an energy blast from its wing. Bakura was hit directly, causing him to crash into the desert sand, skidding a few yards afterwards.

"Atem, I'm sorry for all of this..." Atem heard inside his mind.

"Anika?" he said and looked around. He saw the dragon look at him again, and instantly, he knew it was Anika. His eyes grew big as he heard Bakura yell from behind him,

"Diabound attack!" Diabound appeared right before Anika and using one of its more powerful attacks, knocking her down. The dragon roared as it collapsed. Anika cried out in pain from inside.

"So that's why everyone was after Anika..." Atem put the pieces together. "There's nothing possessing her, it's just her own spirit monster!" Now everything made sense. This is why Anika wanted to leave, why she felt guilty of the destruction of her village. "I'm not going to let you win!" Atem yelled at Bakura. He tightened his grip on his sword nearby and aimed for Bakura. Another line of metal blocked his way, Bakura's sword. They fought evenly matched, alongside with Anika and the dragon with Diabound. Mahad and Mana's spirit monsters blew attacks from behind, distracting Diabound. Anika saw an opening and took it instantly. After drawing a long breath in, the dragon opened its mouth, unleashing a large stream of fire. Diabound was hit directly, causing Bakura to drop to his knees in pain. 'I refuse to loose like this...' Bakura muttered to himself, seeing less and less of his men, some had disappeared, others were retreating, most of all, he was losing energy from fighting. The thief yelled over his shoulder to his monster,

"Diabound! Use you're secret attack! Destroy her, NOW!" Diabound began to summon all of his energy into a ball in front of him.

"No!" Atem cried out as Diabound attacked the dragon, creating a blinding white light. He shielded his eyes from the light. Bakura looked towards the prince before disappearing from sight,

"This isn't over." He said in a low voice. "It'll never be over until _I win._" The light soon dimmed from the attack, and Atem lowered his hands from his face. Everyone was shocked to see that the black dragon was still standing. "No!" Bakura yelled. Diabound was gone, and the dragon, Anika, had survived the attack. But barley. Shada had a feeling that this is what Anika had inside her. 'The powerful spirit. Had it returned?' he wondered. Anika, even weak, continued to fight off the enemy. Mana ran from Mahad's side.

"Mana! What are you doing?" he called after her.

"I'm going to help out that dragon." She answered. "It's here to help us, and it's the main target it seems!" she ran off without another word. Bakura's men started closing in on the dragon, throwing their spears towards the neck and chest. Mana put a spell on the palace entrance so no one could get in before starting her own attack towards Bakura's remaining tomb raiders. She paused for a moment to look up at the dragon. 'This dragon...' she thought, 'seems familiar somehow...' but immediately went back to the battle after the thought. Bakura glanced behind him at Anika.

"You have no idea what I'm planning on doing with all that power." Bakura said smugly at Atem, fighting him down with both of their swords clashing. Atem lunged forward, casing Bakura to tumbled back.

"But you have no idea what I'll do to do to stop you." he replied. They continued fighting, Bakura using all of this strength. Atem was defiantly getting there. Anika continued to weakening, but she didn't let that bother her. Atem wasn't giving up, so neither would she. However on the flip side, Bakura wasn't giving up either. She looked down from her great height.

'I'm the one that caused this.' She thought, repeating herself from the beginning of the battle. 'I'm not going to let it continue.' Bakura's men threw about eight spears at her, seven of which she blocked with one of her wings. The last one had missed her completely. Suddenly, a dozen of them came at her in two groups of six. Even with Mana's help, it wasn't enough. Seven of them had hit the dragon's chest directly, creating deep wounds as well as causing Anika a great deal of pain. The dragon roared once again, Anika began loosing control and consciousness. The wounds surly were not helping her condition. "I'll protect everyone." Anika choked out. "I must..." It's what she had to do, even at the cost of her own life. One last attack and it would be over. She summoned as much energy she had, directing it out of the dragon's mouth in one final assault. A huge mass of black, raw energy rid the area of Bakura's men instantly. The black energy gave way to another bright light, and again, blinding everyone just Diabound's attack had. Bakura angrily looked at Atem.

"...until I win." Bakura threatened before disappearing in the white light. This light took a longer time to dissipate than before. Even as it did, the black dragon started to shrink. Anika's work was done.

"I'm sorry... Atem." Anika said to herself as she started going back to her human form. Soon enough, there was only a black dome in the middle of the palace courtyard. No one spoke as the dome continued to grow smaller. A slight breeze blew, reveling what was underneath the obstruction. It was Anika, lying motionless on the ground.

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(A/N:) Well, this is has been a long, interesting, action-packed chapter, hasn't it? And it's been a while since I put up a new part, I'm sorry for the delay. I'm rewriting a lot in this one, and it's taking me WAY longer that expected -sweatdrop- I hope everyone enjoyed this chapter, ) thanks so much for reading! Reviews are appreciated! Love!

-DQ64


	5. Remember That?

Atem looked around

Atem looked around. No one was moving. Bakura had vanished. He rushed over to Anika's side.

'Why didn't you tell me? It wouldn't have made any difference' Atem thought. He brushed the hair from in front of her face. He suddenly realized she wasn't breathing. "Anika." Atem whispered loudly. "Are you ok?". Mana walked cautiously over to Atem and Anika on the ground. Atem gently lifted her head. "She's not breathing. What she did must have... drained all her energy... and her life... I can't sense anything." Everyone looked on at a motionless Anika. "Did she actually go so far... to protect us all?" Atem said to Mana. Mana was still in shock. Her hands clasped with one another, near her chest. Her teal-green eyes slowly showing tears. Atem slowly lifted Anika off the ground.

"What should we do, my prince?" Seto asked from behind him. His soft, yet still stern voice suddenly broke the silence. Atem looked up and turned half-way around and began to survey the courtyard. Chunks of the palace wall lay every which way, weapons lay around.

"See what damage was done." Atem started. "Make sure everything is going to be all right. I'll... I'll be back." He turned his attention back to Anika. He gently picked her up, as if she would fall apart otherwise, and walked between two damaged pillars into the palace. Outside, Mana faced Mahad.

"What just happened?" she asked. Mahad shook his head.

"Many things at once that needs one great explanation." Mana looked onward as Atem slowly faded into the palace.

Atem looked down at Anika. He was wondering. He had so many questions for Anika; a million thoughts filled his mind.

"I should have done more to protect you..." he said quietly. "done something so that Bakura couldn't find you, you would have been safe, you wouldn't..." Atem sighed as he entered Anika's room. He placed the girl in his arms on the bed below him, gently, once again. "You wouldn't have to have done what you did. You risked your life and..." he trailed off, brushing strands of hair out of her eyes. Reveling a tired, dirty, yet still beautiful face. Sat on the edge of the bed, his head in his hands. It seemed like hours Atem had been sitting there before he felt something stirring on the bed. Atem's head perked up immediately. A small moan made him whip his head around to face where the sound had come from. Through the limited light, he could see Anika's eyes trying to open. Atem let a breath of air escape him as he leaned in closer to Anika. Anika's eyes were open slightly, taking on the surrounding area to figure out where she was. The dull red eyes fell onto Atem's face. A smile upon his lips.

"Atem...?" She mumbled. Although he wouldn't ever admit it, the prince's eyes almost began to water.

"A-Anika." He managed to say. "Are you all right?" Anika gave a slight nod, and then fell asleep.

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Three days had past. Anika slept all through all hours of each day, barely moving, as Atem recorded, checking up on her a few times a day when he wasn't busy. Late one morning, Anika's eyes once again tried to open. With a slight moan Anika slowly opened her eyes most of the way. She peered around. She was in her room. Her head on the soft pillow, she lay under the covers of a bed in a room.

"What happened?" Anika asked, rising from her position. She got up too quickly, resulting in a headache. She held a hand to her head. Just as she did, a second of memories flashed through her mind. Yelling, fighting, screaming, falling... "I'm alive," she mouthed. The black-haired girl shook her head and decided to figure out where she was. She didn't remember falling asleep here, and this defiantly wasn't the small sun-dried brick home she grew up in. "where... am I?" Even though most of her energy was replenished, she still wobbled after she got out of the bed and began to walk across the room. She pushed back the curtain in the doorway and looked out. The door led to a long hallway. The nearest room was maybe fifteen feet away from her. Looking up and down the hallway, she noticed a certain feeling from where she was; like she was in a palace of some sort. "The Royal Palace?" she whispered, her hand felt the cloth of the doorway. It was a deep reddish-purple and was the softest thing she had ever felt. She noticed he red trim on her tunic, too. Even though it was tattered, torn, and dirty, it certainly wasn't something she remembered making. "Maybe someone here can help me..." she nodded to herself, even though she was extremely shy. Walking through the palace, she saw no one. The palace-like place seemed completely empty. "What's going on?" she wondered. Turning around a corner, she found someone. He had black spiked hair, a few strands of blonde in some places. He was dressed in fine clothes, a violet cape hung from his shoulders, matching his eyes. They seemed sad. He was looking out the window, his chin resting on one hand. Anika made a small noise upon entering the hall, which had caught his attention. As he turned to face her, a month's worth of memories rushed through her head in a second. She remembered everything. "Atem." she slightly mouthed.

"Anika...!" Atem's sad violet eyes disappeared with the sight of her, a smile was once again upon his lips.

"Atem!" Anika cried, running into Atem's arms.

"You're awake." Atem sighed happily, holding her against his chest. Anika smiled,

"I'm alive." Both stood in the hall for a long time, holding each other as if it was the last thing they would do. Finally, Anika spoke, "How long has it been?" Atem looked out, down the hall from where Anika had come.

"Three days. It's been three days." Anika nodded.

"I'm... I'm sorry." She apologized. Atem held her tighter, telling her,

"No... It's alright... "

Atem had been thinking about something those past three days, something that he should do, plus how he felt about the situation and of the girl. He debated, if Anika were to wake up, he would show her something. Now he was certain. "I'm glad you're alright Anika." The prince sighed. Atem pulled them a few inches away so he could look at her face. He then let go of Anika all but one hand. "Anika, there's something I want to show you." Anika blushed furiously as Atem smiled and led her away.

After going down countless hallways, Anika asked,

"Where are you taking me?" Atem looked behind him.

"Shh..." came the smiling response. The hallways seemed to get narrower and darker with each step forward. Atem walked into a small, dark room with Anika behind him. He looked behind them to make sure they weren't being followed. Atem felt around a wall and suddenly it moved, making a rumbling sound. Anika jumped back a little.

"What was that?"

Atem whispered,

"Our way in." Anika peered into a small opening. They both entered as the door closed behind them. Soon, fired torches illuminated the hallway. Anika gasped as she saw the most vivid wall paintings to been seen.

"Wow..." Anika breathed. She followed alongside the wall with Atem. "They're beautiful." She said. Atem nodded.

"Here, it's more then the paintings themselves. This place is to be told as magical and spiritual. Everything has a meaning. This hall represents life, always walking forward, and the paintings show changes through out life. The events, of love, of fate." It sounded like he was reciting it as someone had told him before. Anika traced a dark line with her finger. It seemed to be like a vine, turning and circling. Anika followed it until it stopped. She looked up at the painting of a beautiful goddess. "Who is she?" Anika quietly said. Atem answered simply,

"The goddess of love."

"Oh..." Anika responded. The whole place seemed to be about her. Or at the very bit, seemed to be connected with her. Anika turned after a while and started walking towards Atem.

"There's more then just the paintings here." Atem said.

"Like what?" Anika questioned.

"Stories and history are imprinted on these walls as well." Atem explained. "Plus a mystery." He looked at Anika as he continued. "

"I'm listening." Anika assured him.

"The mystery is, the one I care for has something inside. That one can have the world divide. One small thing decides a fate, they must decide before it's too late."

"It's a riddle" Anika murmured.

"One that I have yet to solve." Atem explained. The both thought a moment, Atem occasionally looking towards Anika looking down at her feet. Finally, Anika asked,

"Who else knows about this place?"

"You are only supposed to share this with one person." Atem explained. "My mother showed me this, and my father before showed her. It goes in some sort of pattern." Anika looked at the painting again.

"It seems they are all in your family. But, I'm of no relation... Why did you show me this?" Atem blushed just a little. He said,

"You only share this with one person, no one else." Atem said again. "The connection is... that you share this... with a person you truly care about... someone you love." Atem looked over at Anika as there was a long moment of silence.

The air seemed still after Atem stopped speaking. 'With a person you truly care about... someone you _love_??' Anika's mind was trying to put together the pieces, but was too nervous to do so. Anika murmured,

"L-love?" Anika repeated, stuttering. Atem nodded. "Me?" Atem smiled. "Yes." He answered.

"I...I-I don't know what to say..." as she looked down.

"You don't have to say anything." Atem assured her, blushing a little. He motioned her to follow him down the hall. Anika smiled a little and followed. After a bit, Atem asked, "Anika? Why didn't you tell me?" Anika hesitated with her footsteps for a moment. She knew what he meant by that. The monster within her.

"I-I was afraid." came the meek response.

"Of what?"

"I overheard Priest Seto saying things about how innocent lives would be sacrificed for the sake of the kingdom. I was afraid that if someone found out, they would use me, take what monster was in me... because what's in me is powerful." Atem nodded and said in response.

"I wouldn't let anything like that happen to you, Anika. You're more than just an innocent life, believe me." He turned and faced her. "I told you that Seto can go off like that when it comes to a battle. If you're with me, you're safe." Anika chuckled.

"Because you have to protect the people of Egypt, right?" Atem smiled and his eyes sparkled a bit.

"Right." He let out a laugh as well. Atem and Anika continued walking down the tunneled hallway, and nearing the end. Anika stopped at a particular painting on the wall. She focused on part of it. A small boy getting water from the river. She thought a moment 'Where have I seen this before?' she wondered.

"Something the matter?" she heard Atem ask.

"No. Not really. " came the answer. "The picture just reminded me of something... but I can't put my finger on it." she shrugged. "It's nothing to worry about." She said, fluttering her hand with an innocent smile.

"If it's the boy you're looking at, I'll tell you, he's a boy that carries out duties and warns others of danger. That's what my mother told me." Anika's eyes widened a bit.

"Oh." was all she could say. As they continued walking, Anika let out a bit of breath.

"What is it?" Atem asked.

"This flower..." Anika stopped at one particular painting. She began tracing the outside of the painting with her finger. "This is my favorite flower, the red poppy... I never see it anymore..." she trailed off. There was a bit of silence again as Anika remembered. Atem thought for a moment before speaking,

"We're near the end." He informed her, breaking the silence. Anika looked confused.

"That was really short."

"Trust me," Atem said "We've been in here longer then you think. Let's just hope no one missed us." Anika nodded. They walked up and out of the tunnel. "Remember, you can't tell a single soul about this." Atem told Anika as she nodded. Both walked casually down the hall, not saying a word.

"ANIKA!!" came an excited yell from behind her. Anika turn to see a blur running towards her. She didn't have enough time to react as Mana gave her a huge hug.

"You had me worried!" she exclaimed. "First the battle then you go missing! Where were you?" Anika took a little time to catch her breath again.

"I just got up." She explained. "And... was getting some air." She looked at Atem out of the corner of her eye and saw him nod slightly. Mana finally let her hug on Anika go.

"I thought you were..." she started, but stopped. She backed away and put her hands on her hips.

"If you ever pull a stunt like that again I'll... I'll... uh... I'll do something!" Anika laughed.

"Thanks for your concern, Mana." Anika said with a slight bow. A voice spoke out suddenly.

"Oh, Anika, you're up!" Everyone turn to see Isis walking towards them.

'Someone's popular today.' Atem thought with a smile. Anika nodded again. Isis continued,

"That's great. You're fully rested?"

"Yes, for the most part." came Anika's response. She continued, "Even though all that I did go through, I don't feel too different. Maybe a little tired when I really think about it, but all together fine." She felt a little awkward having three people looking at her, as if she would do something amazing. She got out of a small daze as Mana suddenly took her by the arm.

"I have to tell everyone you're ok!" she exclaimed. Before Anika could say anything, they were both running down the halls. Atem let out a chuckle. "No matter what, Anika always seems to put a smile on someone's face." He said to himself.

"Prince, I would hate to spiol this moment, but I must tell you something." Isis spoke out to Atem.

"Yes?" he answered.

"I believe that I had a vision about the woman after Anika, Khalidah." Atem's attention was fully turned on what Isis had to say.

"Are you sure it was her?" he asked.

"She fit your description." Isis claimed. "Now, at least, we know why she's coming after her." Atem looked out the window again.

"I want to know more." He murmured. "For her safety and because..." he trailed off in his thoughts. Atem was all alone in the hall now, out the window he saw Mana and Anika walk outside in the courtyard.

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Anika laughed at Mana's hyped-up attitude as she spoke excitedly to Mahad. Once Mana was done, Mahad asked,

"So you're feeling better?" Anika nodded.

"Good to hear." Soon enough, both were off again. Inside the palace, Mana ran ahead, looking for someone else. Anika ran a bit, but her footsteps slowed. "This is all too strange." She thought. "I feel like I shouldn't be doing this, shouldn't still be here. But I have never felt this welcome before, and it's a great feeling, but still..."

"What's wrong?" Mana said from up ahead. Anika looked up.

"I don't know..." Anika responded. Mana walked over to her. "I feel like a lot of my energy was just... drained."

"Oh, I'm so sorry for dragging you all over here. I would of stopped if you were feeling tired." Anika shook her head.

"No, it just happened."

"Go lie down and rest." Mana said with concern. Anika hesitated.

"Please... don't tell anyone about this. Especially Atem. I don't want him worrying over me." Mana nodded as the girls went back to Anika's room. "You rest up now!" Mana instructed her. "No doing crazy things like you did for a long time, kay?" Anika smiled. "Alright, Mana, whatever you say." Mana waved her hand as she left the room. After Anika was alone, and she lay awake on her bed, thinking. 'The last time this has happened to me, I had to leave. No one would accept me, so I left." She mumbled to herself. "I've tried that, and all have failed. I think I can safely go now. But will I make it? I had help from--' she let out a small gasp as the memory came back to her.

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Anika stood at a table, just under the age of twelve. She was rolling out some dough in front of her, kneading all the stress of the day into the light tan-colored form. She stood in her house, where she had lived about half of her life. The other half she spent in another village with her parents until a disease drove them out. In the first year in the new village, her father had been murdered, and four months later, her mother died from the disease from the previous village. It had lied dormant within her for nine months. Once she was weakened by getting pregnant, the disease began to spread. Eventually, it took her life after she gave birth. Life was hard without parents, but Anika worked hard. She often would get picked on by other children who had a loving mother and father, which then would anger her, forcing her to run back home.

This time, all she remembered was through her anger, something inside got loose for a split second, and had hurt some people. Nothing bad, no one bled, just caused a couple bruises. But it was enough to send Anika sprinting home scared. She couldn't control it. Now, hours later, Anika sighed, releasing pressure. The cooking made her relax. The scents of herbs filled the air. Suddenly, angry voices echoed through the streets.

"There she is! The trouble maker!" One of them had yelled from a window. A few men began to barge in through the door.

"You'll pay for what you have done!" another screamed. Anika was terrified. She grabbed a cloth bundle and ran further into the house. It getting dark, limiting her vision. Anika ran into a few things along the way. The house wasn't big at all, so she was almost cornered immediately. Suddenly, a head popped up in a window. It looked black from the lack of light. Anika stopped running and started to back away.

"No, no." the figure spoke. "I'm here to help." It was a boy, a bit older then Anika. He seemed to know what was going on, and Anika decided that she didn't want to find out what would happen if she stuck around. Anika heard voices coming behind her. A cry came from the bundle of cloth.

"Shhh... little one," She reveled a baby in the cloth, and tried to calm the baby down as much as she could. The voices getter closer, the boy held out his arms to the baby. Anika gave him the baby and after that, he reached in for Anika. She took his hands and he pulled her through. The crying got louder from the baby as Anika and her mysterious helper ran between buildings and down allies. It was now dark, the crying baby had calmed down for a while. Both Anika and the boy were breathing hard from running. It was now night.

"Thank you." Anika was able to get out. The boy she saw nodded.

"Stay here." He instructed. He sneaked into a home and came out with a sack for the baby and a small horse. "Don't worry where these came from." He said. "Just get out of here quickly, find a new village." Anika looked at him, even though she couldn't see his face.

"Please tell me, why are you helping me and who are you?" she said as the boy helped her onto the horse with the baby. He responded with,

"We're alike, that's why. And my name is --" he was interrupted by mad voices. "Get out! Now!" He slapped the horse hard with a small whip-like instrument, causing the horse to gallop away.

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The memory faded away.

"Who was that boy?" Anika murmured as she fell asleep once again.

Atem was walking down the halls. He saw Mana with no Anika. He walked up to her

"Where's Anika?" he asked. Mana looked around, trying to think of something.

"She... she..." she didn't want to lie to her friend, not to mention the prince, but she didn't want him to worry. Finally she sighed. "She's resting." Mana said before quickly adding "But don't worry about her, she fine!" She covered her mouth just then. Atem gave her a strange look. Mana's head hung low, and Atem had an idea of what was going on.

"Well, thanks for that much of information." He said, placing a hand on her shoulder before walking past her. The prince stood at Anika's door for a second before pushing back the curtain slightly. "Anika?" he whispered. No answer. He looked closer inside and saw Anika lying on the bed. He walked over to her and touched her cheek. "Get some rest. A lot of it." he said as he pulled blankets over Anika. With one last look he left the room.

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Anika had been quietly sound asleep since mid-day. It was now night and she was still soundly asleep, until the nightmare began.

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Anika stood in middle of the desert, no one else around except a small boy riding with a man on a camel. The small boy seemed ecstatic to see Anika, and waved his hand in the air. Anika copied this motion, the feeling was mutual. When they were about forty feet from each other, the man stopped the camel to let they young boy off. Anika's heart was racing, she was the happiest girl alive. But as soon as the boy's foot touched the sands of Egypt, the ground began to shake violently. The winds blew tremendously, picking up the sand along with it. Anika hid her face in her arms, protecting herself from the wind-blown dust. She heard the boy cry out to her. Anika squinted out into the wind just in time to see the camel, the man, and the young boy being sucked into the ground.

"No...!" Anika yelled. She ran to where the boy was. As soon as she got there, the winds had died down, but it was too late, they were all gone.

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Anika jolted up from her bed, breathing hard. Ever since Bakura attacked her village, Anika couldn't remember anything. Now memories began to piece together in her mind.

"Khalil..." she whispered, remembering the boy's name. She tore off the covers and ran through out the palace, looking for the boy as if he was somewhere there. The search eventually led Anika to the courtyard. She saw the tall palace door and started running towards it. She stumbled half why there, letting out a small cry. She picked her self up and continued to the door. She immediately began trying to push it open, hoping that somehow, one small push was all she needed to open the immense stone barrier. Soon the pushing became pounding. "Open!" she muttered angrily. "OPEN!" More pounding. Soon she had given up, Anika's fists on the door slid down as her body dropped down to the ground. "No..." she murmured. Back inside the palace, Anika's movements had been enough to wake Atem. He got out if his bed and walked to his window. Pulling back the curtain he could see Anika hunched over at the palace gate. "Please... I need to get out... He needs me..." Anika whispered, beginning to cry. Atem quickly went down to the courtyard to meet Anika at the gate. "No. I can't let this happen!" Anika continued crying. "Not him, not my little brother!" Anika became frustrated with herself, and began yelling. "No. NO!" Her fists pelted the door every so often. Atem was now within feet of her.

"Anika." He called out for her, walking closer. She didn't seem to hear him. "Anika!" he said again, putting a hand on her shoulder. Anika let out a gasp and she turned to Atem, tears streaming down her face. "What's the matter?" Atem asked softly, wiping tears from her cheek. There was a long moment of silence as Anika calmed down. Her mind was racing. "What's wrong, Anika...?" Anika gulped, figuring out how she would put this.

"I-I had a nightmare..." Atem's eyes widened and he nodded, but was still unsure of the reason she was down here, pounding on the door like she was. She sighed, still calming herself down. Before Atem could ask, "What happened in the nightmare?" Anika opened her mouth, reveling what was on her mind.

"Someone I know disappeared. They got pulled down into the ground. I tried to reach them, but it was too late." Tears began to form in Anika's eyes again.

"Has the dream ever occurred before?" Atem asked. Anika shook her head.

"But I have had similar." She told him, wiping away tears. "This same thing has happened every year that I can remember around this time of the year, around my birthday." Atem waited for her to continue. "These nightmares are of people I know or love. They are happy and even lively, but then..." she trailed off for a moment. "something horrible happens. They're hurt, or in danger, or they die... And... and I always felt like I had caused of it, or I could have at least prevented it."

"At least is was only a dream. Atem told her. Anika shook her head.

"No. Something like what happened in these dreams always becomes reality."

"So you could call it vision..." Atem murmured. Anika argued bitterly,

"I call it a curse." Anika held her head in her hands. "That day, the day I was born, is in two days. I'm worried that someone will get hurt. The people in my dream... anyone."

"And the person in your dream is outside of these walls?" Atem asked. Anika looked down.

"I don't know if they're even still alive. I guess that they are, but there's no way that I could stop anything from happening... I'm going to loose another person close to me. I don't think I can take it..." Anika said as the tears started coming again. Atem stood Anika up, his hands on her shoulders.

"You are strong, Anika." He began. "If you need someone to lean on, I'm always here for you." Anika moved closer to Atem, her head resting on his chest as the prince embraced her. "We'll see if there's a a way to prevent this."

"I can't have someone die again." She murmured quietly.

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(A/N:)Holy cheesecake, I haven't updated this in a while! (52 days?!) Sorry! School stuff got in the way again. I really hope that this chapter was worth the wait! (I say that every time, don't I? heh heh... -sweatdrop-) I decided to change a bit of the story in this chapter. I think it's easier to follow along with what Anika is going through. AND! There was a bit of history. So yeah, she's an orphan. Who do you think her helper was? -giggles-

Thanks for reading! Reviews are appreciated! D

-DQ64


	6. Birthday Curses and Gifts

A small boy walked down to the river to get some washing water. He dipped a sun-dried clay jug into the rushing water and pulled it out a few moments later. He figured that since he was here, he might as well get a drink. He cupped his hands into the water and pulled them up to his lips. He stopped for a brief moment. He remembered performing the same action a while ago. He shook his head as he stood, lifting the jug as he did so. A chill was sent down his spine. He again shook it off and carried the jug back to the village where he had been living for a while after he had been found wondering the desert in a daze. A man had caught sight of for the poor boy and brought him back to his village to stay.

"Khalil, over here" a voice called for him. He looked to see the older woman sitting in the shade. Khalil smiled a little and carried it over to the lady.

"Here you go, Ma'am Neith." Khalil announced. The old woman smiled.

"Thank you ever so much, Khalil." He nodded, a bit sad.

"Yeah..."

"Is something troubling you?" Neith asked. Khalil sighed as she motioned him to sit down. Khalil began,

"Well, it's my sister's birthday soon. I have not heard of her since my village was attacked. I believe I'm the only survivor." Neith looked at him with concern.

"I know it must be hard." She spoke.

"Those bad Tomb Raiders took everyone's lives!" Khalil claimed. A man walking past with a basket stopped nearby.

"Well, I just heard recently that there was one other survivor other then you, Khalil." The man said.

"Hello Keon" Neith greeted him.

"Good afternoon." Keon said.

"Another... survivor?" Khalil looked up at the strongly-built man towering above him from where he was sitting. Keon answered,

"Rumor has it, that it was a girl who was found. She has been staying at the Prince's palace ever since," he continued. "I remember someone also saying she had long black hair and crimson red eyes." Khalil's brown eyes lit up.

"That has to be her! It has to be!" he shouted excitedly. "How far is the palace from here?" He peered out into the desert. Neith informed him,

"It's quite the journey. Well over a day, possibly two." Khalil stopped.

"Oh." he said, even thought that what he had figured the answer would be. "Well, at least she's till out there." he then stood up, smiled at everyone, and walked away.

Khalil sat on the door step of Keon's house, where he had been living for the last number of months. A camel's grunt was heard nearby, but Khalil made no note of it. That sound was heard often.

"Hey, Khalil!" he heard someone call. He looked up to see Keon. He had a camel and some supplies. "Why don't we go for a trip?" he asked. Khalil's eyes lit up just as they did before. He was too excited to speak. "Well?" Keon laughed.

"Yes! Of course!" he said excitedly, running over to Keon.

"I've been itching to go for a little trip." Keon said, helping Khalil onto the camel. "And since it's early in the day," he grunted as he got on the camel, "We have plenty of time, might as well go for it."

"Thank you Keon!" Khalil smiled wide.

"You can thank her." Keon said, pointing to his fiancée who stood in the doorway of his house. "You two better be careful!" she said.

"Don't worry, we'll be fine." Keon assured her as all three waved good-bye.

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Back at the palace, Anika walked slowly, deep in thought, thinking back to the dream she had. That image of her brother disappearing hadn't been the worst of these nightmares, but it was enough to shake her. She didn't like people getting hurt. Her reality was slapping her in the face. She was born with this curse, it had seemed, and no matter how good life seemed for whatever amount of time, there was still the negative side of life. All Anika truly wanted was to go back to the last village she lived at, family and all, no strange power - or monster- within her, mo worries... it wasn't going to happen.

"I want to leave, see if there are any other survivors out there from my last village..." Anika murmured as she looked out a window. She highly doubted it, even if her nightmare showed her brother alive and well. Anika continued her walk, Atem was busy at the moment dealing with a meeting or some other matter. During her stroll around, Anika's crimson eyes caught sight of Mahad's lessons to Mana. Mana saw her walk by.

"Hey Anika!" Mana called. Anika looked over and smiled a little.

"Hey." she responded.

"Feeling better? From a couple days ago?" she asked. Anika nodded. "I guess I better get back to my lesson before Mahad yells at me for stopping so suddenly." She laughed nervously as she looked back to a smirking Mahad. Anika let out a chuckle and went on her way.

"It's weird" Anika said to herself. "I feel like I've only been here for a minute, as if I've just arrived." She stopped in front of a window, the sun was slowly descending in the sky. "But after all that has happened..." Anika trailed off, remembering the events that had occurred. Khalidah, her first kiss, Bakura's attack... "It's just-- mind-blowing." She sighed. Much time had past, maybe an hour as Anika watched the sun set. She was merely daydreaming at this point. What life would have been, what she wish it was like. Atem walked up behind her, and calmly said,

"What are you thinking about?" Anika jumped and spun around, startled. Atem jumped a bit from Anika's reaction. "Whoa. Sorry, I, I didn't mean to scare you." He apologized, a small laugh escaped from him. Anika just shook her head and smiled.

"It's alright. I wasn't expecting you to come from nowhere like that. I was just off in my little world." Atem nodded.

"Thinking about the dream?" he asked. Anika shrugged, thinking of an answer.

"A bit, maybe."

"Anything else that you want to talk about it?" he asked. Anika shrugged again.

"I've said all that needs to be said." She responded.

"Any thought of the possibility of you brother being...?" Atem trailed off. Anika looked away from Atem and out the window again.

"I do not know..." she said calmly, staring off into space once more. 'Alive or dead? Please be alright, or be resting peacefully' Anika thought of something just then. "Who all came to my village?" she asked. Atem thought for a moment,

"Many of my guards, followed by me, then came Seto, Shada, and Mahad."

"Who did they see?" she continued asking questions.

"When I arrived, there were many people running around, but there were less and less people as time went on. No one escaped from that village." Atem looked down, frustrated with the fact.

"And then I was found? After everything settled down?" Atem looked up and nodded.

"Yes. Shada and Seto found you. Seto got you back here, and I came later with the other two."

"No one else?" Anika whispered.

No one else." Atem repeated sadly. "I'm sorry." Anika didn't know if she should shrug, nod, or shake her head.

"Okay," was all she could mutter. She tried to keep a sliver of hope alive, that there could have been a way for Khalil's survival, but there wasn't a possible reason she could think of.

"These next few days are probably going to be busy for me." Atem informed Anika. "But if you need to talk, let me know, I'll make time alright?"

"You don't have to do that." Anika told him.

"Yes I do." Atem said, tucking pieces of Anika's hair behind her ear. "I want to." Anika looked from the window and saw Atem take his leave down the hallway.

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The sun had now set. Anika dragged herself to her room.

"What will tomorrow bring?" Anika wondered to herself, lying on her bed, sprawled out on the sheets. "Let's hope all will be safe..."

Out in the middle of the desert, young Khalil was riding with Keon to the palace. The boy fidgeted in the saddle.

"Can't the camel go any faster?" he complained. Keon chuckled.

"He can, but he must be getting tired. Why don't we find some place to rest, and get up early in the morning, to continue our journey."

"Ok. I guess we won't get there any faster on foot!" Khalil smiled. Keon found a small cave with a couple of trees near the opening. He tied the camel's reigns to the trunk, and pulled out two blankets for them to sleep on. Khalil quickly set up his temporary bed and laid on it. It was so soft and comfortable.

"You're going to bed without any thing to eat?" Keon laughed. Khalil sat up.

"No..." Khalil smiled. He watched Keon he set a fire. He had done it so quickly, it almost seemed like magic. Khalil watched him carefully, analyzing Keon's actions. Khalil was thinking when the man interrupted his thoughts.

"How about it?" he asked. Khalil looked up and saw a small loaf of bread being held out it him.

"Oh, yes. Thank you!" the young boy said as he happily took it and took his first bite. A piece of fruit was the second course. Both the bread and fruit were accompanied by a sip of water hear and there. After the meal was gone, Keon and Khalil got ready for bed. Keon said before his slumber,

"If we get up early enough, we should be at the palace around sunset tomorrow."

"Thanks again for bringing me out here." Khalil smiled. He saw Keon nod his head, even in the low amount of light. "No problem." Keon yawned. "Good Night, Khalil," and before he knew it, had fallen asleep fairly quickly. Khalil on the other hand, silently made his way to the cave opening and looked up at the vast sky.

"Let's hope you're well..." he whispered as he gazed into the millions of sparkling stars.

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"So, you'll do this for me?" Atem's voice asked.

"Of course!" Came the response. "It was my idea you do something for her! Oh, this is going to be fun!" Mana exclaimed not very quietly.

"Shhh....." Atem reminded her.

"Oops. Sorry!" Mana whispered.

"Leave everything to us," Mahad assured Atem. He nodded,

"Thanks." The prince spoke as he turned to leave. Anika was barely awake in her room as Atem passed.

"Atem...?" he heard as he passed Anika's room. He stopped and poked his head in.

"Yes? Is everything alright?" Anika sat up from her laying down position and rubbed her eyes.

"I was going to ask you the same thing. What's going on?" Atem thought quickly to cover up his true intentions.

"I was just... reassuring some things with the guards. Sorry if it woke you..." he lied. He hoped Anika didn't catch the slight nervousness in his voice. Anika shook her head.

"I wasn't really sleeping yet. Half awake, " she explained, nearly completely drained of energy. She yawned. Atem told her,

"You should rest. You're really tired." 'And you have a big day tomorrow.' Atem thought. Anika laid back down.

"Yeah... Night..." she murmured as she drifted off to sleep. "Good night." Atem whispered as he slipped out of the doorway.

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The sun rose in the sky the next morning. Khalil woke up not from the sun, but the sound of things moving around, like someone packing. Khalil opened his eyes to see Keon loading supplies back onto the camel they rode on. Khalil walked out of the cave where he slept.

"Ah!" Keon greeted, "So you're awake, Khalil. Good." Khalil nodded. The camel snorted. _'If we get up early enough, we should be at the palace around sunset tomorrow.'_ Keon's words floated back to Khalil's mind, which fully woke him up.

"Are we ready to go?" He asked, already excited for what may lie ahead. Keon shook his head.

"Breakfast comes first." Keon told him, holding out another small loaf of bread to him as he did the night before. Another piece of fruit followed, as well did much water. Khalil ate quickly; he did not want to waste any time. Keon used the time, which wasn't too much at the rate Khalil was eating, to pack up Khalil's things as well. Once everything was secure, the two mounted on the camel and were off towards the palace.

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Anika awoke after the sun had been up for a couple of hours. The thought of what today was sent a chill down her spine. Still, she tried to be on the positive side. 'Maybe nothing will happen,' she thought, trying to convince herself, which wasn't exactly working. 'Anything is possible, I suppose, but each situation, this situation, has a very slim chance of happening.' Anika drew back the curtain in the doorway and looked out, 'No one getting hurt? I can only pray.' She began walking to the throne room, where Atem could have been that morning. 'Maybe I'll go talk to Atem about it. He always has something good to say.' Anika thought again, 'But he said he was going to be busy today. Aw...!' she sighed. "Oh well," she mumbled out loud. Still walking any and every which way, her travels lead her to running into Mana.

"Hey, Mana." Anika spoke, smiling, happy to see a friend.

"Hey!" Came Mana's response.

"Hey. It's time." A voice said from a nearby room. Both looked to see Mahad coming out. "Time for another magic lesson, Mana." He said, folding his arms. Mana nodded. When Mahad folded his arms, it was best not to disagree or even argue. Mana then had an "idea". She turned to Anika and asked,

"Anika, do you want to come along? Tagg] along for a magic lesson?" Anika thought a moment. She looked at Mahad, who nodded an "OK" for her. Anika's head bobbed, accepting the offer. "Sure, why not?" she smiled, following the two magicians down the hall. "I'm just curious, " Anika went on, "Has anyone seen Atem today?" Mana and Mahad looked at each other. Mahad shook his head. "He's very busy today. It'd be best not to bother him."

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Atem had been busy. He was riding on his horse across the hot desert, searching for something. Much time had passed before he had finally found what he was looking for. He smiled as he looked at the beautiful oasis.

"I knew I had seen these still growing somewhere." He said, looking at the red flowers below him. The prince got off his horse and stooped down, touching one of the poppies. Atem smiled again, "Perfect."

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Far in the desert, Khalil and Keon were on their way to the palace. Khalil was barely able to contain his excitement. 'I'm going to see me sister.' He kept think over in his head. 'I'm going to see her. I'm going to actually see her.' Anika was the only thing he could think about, his eyes on the never ending horizon. Keon was looking at the horizon, too. Only he was looking for another reason. The winds seemed to have picked up slightly. He could see the loose sand drifting on the desert's surface. Once the wind began to blow a little quicker, Keon stopped the camel.

"Hmm?" Khalil noticed that the camel had stopped, the horizon line was bouncing up and down or moving at all. "Is something wrong, Keon?"

"I think we should stop for a minute. Let the wind die down." Keon looked around, searching for something to protect them from the wind.

"Huh?" Khalil questioned, but then looked out at the desert. Now the young boy stopped the moving sand and the blowing wind.

"Over there." Keon said, pointing to a large rock sticking up out of the ground. "We'll stay there for a little bit." The rock had a slight curve over the sand, as if it was bending over only a little bit. Khalil carefully got off the camel, trying to stop the random bits of sand from getting into his eyes. Khalil's small foot finally reached down to the desert sand. With that one touch, the ground started to rumble like an earthquake. As the ground violently shook, the winds picked up with tremendous speed. The shifting sand on the ground became airborne, more of it each second, decreasing visibility.

"Keon!" Khalil cried, scared for his life. Keon quickly got off the camel, still hanging on to the reigns as he shouted,

"Khalil!" he saw the small boy and grabbed him, but to no avail. In a matter of seconds, both were sucked under the sands of Egypt.

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Many hours passed. Mana's magic lesson was over, and now the two girls were left alone to chat. Mahad went over to another part of the large room, looking over some books. Mana entertained Anika with some of the spells she knew in between to stall er-- "kill" time. One of Mana's spells was to being able to move objects with her magic, and was one that she had nearly perfected. Anika stared in awe as a piece of fruit flew through the air. Mana was actually impressed with herself, this was the best she had done. However, something still went awry, causing the piece of fruit to fall on the young magician's head.

"Ow!" Mana said, rubbing where she got it. She looked over at Anika, holding in a laugh. Mana picked up the fruit and threw it at Anika, "Laugh if you want to!" she cried, beginning her own giggling fit. After a minute of laughing Anika managed to ask, "Are... You ok?"

"Yeah." Mana got out between laughs, "You?"

"My sides hurt from laughing!" Anika went on giggling. Both girls were in a bout of when Seto came in.

"Mahad, Mana..." He trailed off, unaware of why the girls were laughing. Mahad a smile on his face as well. Seto redirected his attention to Mahad again as the girls began to settle down. "Please come to the meeting room. There are some important things to go over." Madand looked at Mana, both nodded.

"That's it for today, Anika!" Mana laughed as she left. Anika and Mana waved each other good-bye, and Anika was soon alone. "I wonder if Atem is still busy." She thought out loud, getting up from the floor. "But if Seto told Mahad and Mana to got to the meeting room..." Anika threw her head back. "Obviously, he's still busy!" Anika now shook her head. "His world doesn't revolve around you, Anika." she reminded herself. "Like I didn't know that already." she answered to her last statement. The crimson-eyed girl began thinking again about the day, her birthday. 'I wonder if anything happened to--' "Hey there." A pleasant voice intruded her depressing thoughts. Anika looked up, "Atem!" she smiled instantly. "I thought you were going to be busy all day today." The prince shrugged. "I got nearly everything done." "Nearly?" Anika repeated questionably, "The day is almost done, you should take care of that." She suggested, not wanting Atem put her before his duties. "You're right. I'll get to it right now." Atem smiled as he took Anika by the hand, leading her back through the palace. "Atem?" Anika asked, "What are you doing? Where are you taking me this time?" A light chuckle escaped from Anika, remembering the first time he led her away like this.

"There's something I want to show you..." Atem replied just as he did before, a smile on his face. Both of their hearts skipped a beat, anticipating what was coming next.

"Where are you taking me, Atem?" Anika asked.

"It's a secret, you have to close your eyes." Atem smiled.

"Don't lead me into any walls, now." Anika giggled.

"I'd never think of it." Atem said. The prince led Anika all the way up to the roof. A warm glow welcomed them both as they appeared atop the palace. Once there, Atem positioned Anika facing west. He looked in the direction of the glow, pleased with the sight, it was perfect. He spoke, "Alright Anika, you can open your eyes now." Anika's eyelids slowly rose up, reveling the sight that was displayed before her. A long gasp escaped her. Anika faced the most beautiful sunset she had ever seen. The sun made the desert sand a glowing orange, the sky was a mix of yellow, orange and, pink. The few clouds in the sky were tinted shades of purple.

"It's beautiful..." Anika breathed, still in awe. She had been on the roof plenty of times during a sunset, but some reason, this one was by far the most breath-taking scene of any Anika witnessed. 'Did Atem go out of his way to show me this?' Anika wondered. The village girl turned around to see Prince Atem smiling at her.

"That's not the only reason I brought you up here," he said.

"No...?" Anika questioned. Atem shook his head. "What could be better than this?" Anika glanced at the sunset again over her shoulder.

"Close your eyes again, but this time, hold out your hands." Anika was a little confused.

"What for?" she laughed, but still did as she was told.

"You'll see." Atem smiled, a bit excited. He disappeared behind a small tower on the roof. When he returned seconds later, he was carrying a bundle of sorts. "Here" he said, gently putting the second surprise in Anika's open arms. Anika opened her eyes this time to a bouquet of flowers. Anika gasped again, trying to utter the name of the flowers she now held.

"T-These are- These are--"

"Red Poppies." Atem finished for her. "R-Red Poppies?" she stuttered. Atem nodded. "These are my favorite... but... how did you know... and... and where did you get them? I haven't seen these since I was a little girl." Anika asked, burying her face in the sweet smelling bouquet.

"Do you remember the tunnel we went into?" Atem began. "You seemed to really care for that flower went you saw the painting of one on the wall." Anika looked up at Atem.

"I barely remember that part." She confessed. "I must have been thinking back and got lost back there."

"Thinking back to when?" Atem curiously asked. Anika's memories replayed in her mind as she answered,

"When my mother gave me a few for my... birthday." Her heart skipped a beat. "Wait a minute!" She looked back at the sunset, looked at the flowers, then at Atem. "These all are gifts for my birthday?!" Anika exclaimed, shocked at the realization. Atem laughed and nodded.

"Of course!" Anika looked back at the flowers, to Atem, and back to the flowers before she threw her arms around Atem's neck, tears starting to form in her eyes.

"Thank you..." she whispered. She pulled back after a second, meeting Atem's eyes. They stood there for a moment, hearts skipping a beat every other time it seemed. Atem leaned in closer as he spoke,

"Happy birthday, Anika." He leaned in closer, meeting Anika's lips. Anika, stunned and blushing deeply, slowly closed her eyes, leaned a little forward, and enjoyed the tender kiss between her and the prince. The whole world seemed to stand perfectly still, the moment was timeless. Anika's body began feeling weak, her heart pounding. Atem slowly broke away from Anika's face, but still remained close. Anika's world was spinning all around her. She gently leaned on Atem, reflecting the moment the two of them just shared. Anika felt like someone special, someone who was important to someone else. As that's how Atem hoped she felt. Atem knew that he couldn't erase her past, but maybe for one day, he could make her feel like she had nothing to worry about.

"Thank you..." Anika whispered again.

The sun had now dipped below the horizon. A dim orange afterglow separated the sky from the cooling desert. Atem and Anika had watched the rest of the sunset, the two sitting close to one another, leaning against a tower. They talked a little, but there was nothing much to say. The sky was now filled with millions of sparkling stars as darkness fell. A few stars flew across the sky, each making their own wish upon them. Maybe another hour of star gazing had past before Atem felt Anika go limp beside him. Peering over to his right he saw the black-haired girl leaning on his arm, her eyes closed. Atem smiled at the sight. He slowly and carefully wrapped his arms around Anika to lift her up.

"I hope you had a good birthday, Anika." Atem whispered as he carried her back inside. "You deserved it all."

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(A/N:) Awwww...!!!! Why can't I have a guy like Atem in my life? He would give me flowers, love me, make me feel special. -sigh- Only in this world it can happen, I guess. XD ANYWAY! Hope ya'll like the chapter! I like this version SO much better than the last, lol. I think this one is a bit more romantic and fits Anika's character more. I'm going to have the chapters be a bit longer, like I may have said before, since this is a pretty lengthy story! -sweatdrop-

How did you guys like Keon? And Neith? They may pop up later on, but we'll have to see where the story goes. And as for Khalil? Did he die? (Nice sad question, DQ! Geez) What do you think is going to happen? (I love asking that question lol.)

Thanks for reading!

-DQ64-


	7. What'll It Be?

Khalil was asleep in the dark. He felt something crawl over his foot, waking him with a sudden fright. He looked around, but saw nothing in the darkness. He was in the dead end of a cave, faced to a wall.

"So you're finally awake." Khalil heard behind him. He spun around with a gasp. A shadowed figure crept toward him with a lighted torch. They were soon looming above the young boy.

"W-Who are you? Where's K-Keon?" Khalil stuttered. The dark figure ignored the questions and asked their own.

"You were mumbling in your sleep about someone named Anika," they stooped down a bit. "Who is Anika?"

"...M-My... sister..." Khalil was hesitant to answer. "Where is Keon? Where am I?" He asked again.

Your sister, hmm?" Khalidah said as she grinned in the dark.

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"So you had Mana, Mahad, _and_ Seto all in your plan yesterday?" Anika laughed, twirling one of the poppies Atem gave to her the previous night.

"Yes. More or less with Seto, but yes they all were in on it." Atem replied, chuckling.

"Very clever... and really sweet." Anika said. "I never thought someone would do something the special for me."

"Well," Atem began, "You're special to me." Anika blushed when she saw Atem's smile. The look in his eyes gave her a chill down her whole body. It was a good feeling. The thought of her being a small village girl still crept out of the corner of her mind from time to time, but at this point, if she was with Atem, she didn't care either way. Anika now stood and paced around a small area of the palace courtyard.

"These past few months have been the best..." Anika quieted herself for the next statement, "Well, aside from all that Bakura stuff," and now back to her original voice, "the best that I can remember." Anika traced her finger around the bright red flower.

"That's good to hear." Atem told her.

"And it actually feels like I've been her longer than that, for whatever reason." The prince shrugged,

"Nothing to complain about?"

"None whatsoever." Anika continued to walk around, Atem remained seated. The girl, looking down at the flower began thinking. After a minute of silence, Anika began. "I've started over here." She announced. Atem's head rose and turned towards Anika. "This... is like my second chance or something." Atem now stood, walking over to Anika. "Could I possibly continue being here? Starting over here?" her voice a little scared, afraid that the prince wouldn't let this dangerous village girl stay with him. Anika could see the large palace looking from behind Atem. Atem smiled lightly saying,

"Of course. You already have." Anika let out a small breath of air, a sigh of relief. She would be safe from other villagers hunting her down, trying to find her to kill her. 'The past is behind me.' Anika thought. Atem went on, "I would be glad if you stayed her, Anika. And I guess that we're--" he stopped suddenly, peering behind Anika. His eyes focused on the large palace doors.

"What's wrong?" Anika asked. Atem stood and took a few steps toward the door. Anika followed him slowly. The door looked like it was changing, morphing somehow right in the middle. Atem put his arm out in front of Anika, stopping her advancement.

"Stay back," he told her. The door continued to swirl. It almost appeared to be melting. The something else happened just then. A figure began to emerge from the doors! Atem tensed up, this was something new. 'Another trick of Bakura's?' the prince wondered. Anika let out a loud gasp as her hands flew to her mouth. Her crimson eyes grew wide as she saw their unexpected visitor.

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A woman with long silver hair projected herself out of the morphing, melting stone door. She wore a garment that covered her entire body; the hood of it was up. She carried a belt around her waist with petite jars strung along it. One arm seemed to be stuck behind her back.

"Khalidah..." Atem angrily stated as the woman flipped her hood back.

"Ah, so you remember me." Khalidah smirked. Atem didn't respond, as she had hoped he would. Just a little fun with the prince. Instead, now, she got right to the point of things. "This doesn't fully concern you, Prince Atem." She stated. "Anika..." she called out to the girl if she were a pet. Atem looked behind him to see Anika half angered and half scared. "I have something you want." Anika looked at Khalidah with suspicion, still she said nothing. Khalidah took her right hand from behind her back, revealing a small boy. the let go of his wrist.

"Khalil!" Anika exclaimed as she ran around Atem's extended arm.

"Anika!" the boy beamed happily. They ran and embraced one another.

"I thought I'd never see you again!" Anika cried. Khalil could only nod.

"I always knew you were still out there, Anika." Khalil finally choked out.

"It's all right now." Anika murmured softly. "We're together again. We'll always be."

"And that is where your options come into play..." Khalidah said. Anika looked up.

"Options?" she asked as her heart began to sink. Khalidah nodded.

"I'm giving you a choice. Khalil, here, is my prisoner. If you wish for him to be free, you will give me your power..." Anika looked horrified at the statement. There were so many things that could happen if she were to do that. The beast inside her could get loose, destroy everything. With the power that Khalidah had already possessed, Anika was sure that her power would give Khalidah unlimited strength. But most of all, there was a slim chance that she would be able to see tomorrow. She could _die._ 'Does Khalidah know what could happen?' Anika thought. 'What do I do?' I'd do anything for Khalil, but...' she sighed.

"What's the other option?!" Atem asked angrily.

"Well, Anika can stay with you, my Prince." Khalidah smirked. "Why you would want this wretched village girl around is beyond me, but it does make for a good proposition." Anika and Khalil were clinging to each other, with Anika looking between everyone. "If Anika stays with you, Atem, there will be now Khalil. He'll remain my prisoner. Who _knows_ what might happen to him then."

"You're twisted." Atem murmured under his breath. Khalidah still heard him, and only shrugged at the insult. 'No matter what, it's a loose-loose situation for everyone...' Atem thought. 'There's got to be a way...'

"You have three days to decide." Khalidah explained. She walked over to Anika and Khalil. "Come, boy." she demanded, grabbing the fearful boy by his small wrist, pulling him out swiftly from his loving sister's arms. Anika couldn't utter a word and fell to her hands and knees. "No, Anika!" Khalil screamed, struggling for freedom. Khalidah had been too quick. Now was proving her strength in retaining the flailing child.

"Let him go!" Atem demanded. Khalidah simply stated,

"He's my prisoner; I'll do what I want with him." She turned to leave.

"Stop!" Anika yelled out. Khalidah turned to look at Anika. She was standing, anger building within her. "Don't you _DARE_ hurt him." Anika pointed an accusing finger at the woman. "Don't." Khalidah just smirked once again. "We'll see." She answered, walking back towards the closed palace door. Soon enough, the stone barrier swirled and morphed at Khalidah's will. "ANIKA!" was the last Anika heard of her brother.

"Khalil...." Anika whispered as she burst into tears. Atem looked at Anika sadly. He felt so sorry for her. The prince slowly went over to Anika, sobbing uncontrollably. He took off his cloak and draped it over Anika. He placed an arm around her shoulders, his free hand took hers. "It's going to be alright." Atem said softy to her. Anika looked up at him. Tears clouded her vision. Atem held Anika close to him. "We'll find a way, we'll get your brother back."

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Atem had duties to uphold shortly after the events that morning. He had led Anika back to her room and calmed her down the best he could before leaving her to herself. It was now early evening; the sun was beginning to set. Anika lay on the roof, looking up at the sky orange and yellow sky. It was hard to believe that only the night before was the greatest night of her life. Now she wallowed in her depression. Anika sighed,

"What am I going to do...?" she whispered to herself. Atem peered into Anika's room, only to find it empty. As Atem turned from the doorway, he suddenly faced Mana, who pointed up towards the ceiling. Atem smiled lightly and nodded a "thank you" before making his way towards the stairs. Sure enough, as he mounted the top stair, he saw Anika lying on the roof. The sky was beginning to turn pink. Hearing Atem coming, Anika spoke out, "Is there any possible way to win?" Atem sighed.

"I don't know. But if there is, we have to find it." Anika stood and looked at Atem.

"I'm.... I'm really sorry for all of this."

"'Sorry'?" he questioned.

"For bringing you into this." Anika told him

"It's not your fault." Atem assured her. Now Anika sighed.

"I can't have Khalidah hurt my brother. But, I don't want to be torn from everybody... Khalil, you... the power inside of me is like my life force. If it's taken away, the odds are against me that I would survive. I will probably... " Anika couldn't finish her sentence. She turned away and hid her face in her hands.

'Die...?' Atem thought sadly. He was shocked at this new information, but remained strong, for Anika. He came up from behind and wrapped his arms around her.

"I'm not going to lose you." He whispered. "And you're not going to lose Khalil." He hugged her a little tighter. "I promise."

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Anika didn't get up the next day to walk around like she had done before. Instead as the new day broke, the village girl lay on her bed in the palace until mid-day. Atem had been in there earlier, but Anika had been asleep. He hadn't had the time to check on her since. "Die and leave everyone including Khalil behind, or live with the thought that Khalil is probably getting tortured somehow. Left in a small dank corner." Anika groaned and crossed her arms over her face, aggravated. She lay in the same position until she heard Mana's voice.

"Message to Anika from Atem." The young magician announced a little plainly. Anika sat up on her bed.

"Oh, hey, Mana." She answered. Mana nodded.

"I heard what's going on. About what's happening with your brother. I'm sorry." She said. Anika didn't reply right away.

"It's the way things go, I guess." Mana came and sat next to Anika. "Do you know what Atem said?" Mana said, a small smile appearing on her face. Anika looked at Mana, waiting for her to continue. "He said that even though he's busy right now, you're still his main priority. He's thinking of a plan every time he gets the chance to. " Mana's smile was full now, affecting the expression on Anika's face from glum to satisfactory.

"Thanks. But it's kind of my problem; he doesn't have to worry about it or me." Mana just shrugged.

"Yeah, but sometimes, Atem can be stubborn when he wants to be."

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Two more days had passed. Khalidah was coming back around mid-day. It was now morning. Anika woke up knowing this. Khalidah would come morphing out of the front palace doors, and Anika made her decision on what to do about her proposal. She tore off the covers on the bed and marched herself down to the courtyard to wait.

The sun rose higher and higher into the sky. The time was drawing near. Atem just finished his duties from the night before, and went down to Anika's room. He had news of great importance to tell her. As soon as Atem saw no Anika, he knew where she was. He looked down out a window to see a young black-haired girl sitting near the palace, sitting still like statue. Looking back up, he could see Khalidah approaching the palace. She would be there in a matter of minutes. He quickly ran down to the courtyard. Before reaching the bottom floor, he saw Mahad.

"The time has come, let's hope this works." Atem said. Mahad gave a quick nod.

"I know what I'm going to do. Anika told Atem as he came up to her, slightly out of breath from running.

"Anika, I have to quickly tell you, I have a plan that--" Anika cut him off with a gasp. Atem looked to the door, and they both watched as the door started to change once again just like it did three days ago. Anika and Atem watched as Khalidah came through. Her hood up just like before, an evil smile placed across her face. She held Khalil tightly by the wrist.

"So..." she smirked. "What'll be?"

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Dismay took over Anika as she looked at Khalil. Anika drew in a long breath, opened her mouth to tell Khalidah her choice. "Khalidah," Anika began. Atem quickly looked behind him at the palace. Everything was set. "I will relinquish my power for the safety of--"

"_NOW!_" Atem suddenly yelled. Khalidah was abruptly frozen, caught in a purple and pink glow. A surprised Anika looked behind her to the palace. Mana and Mahad could be seen from two separate windows high in the palace. Their magic batons were out, sending out the spell the magicians put on the woman. "Khalil, run!" Atem ordered. Luckily for Khalil, the grip on his wrist was loosened by the surprise attack. He wrenched free and ran behind Atem and Anika. By now, Khalidah had broken free of the spell put on her with the help from one of her own.

"You took the boy, so now I get the girl's power!" She cried out. Khalidah reached out in front of her, grabbing Anika with what seemed like invisible hands. Anika couldn't control her body and found herself being pulled towards Khalidah.

"You're not getting anything!" Atem yelled, unsheathing his sword and lunging at Khalidah. Khalidah quickly moved away, only slightly loosing her control over Anika. She quickly put up a barrier around herself for protection, but it was difficult to maintain the two spells at once.

"Damn new moon," She muttered. It was that one day of the month when she was at her weakest. The new moon affected her powers for twenty-four hours around its phase. "I should have planned this better..." Atem's sword slashed through the barrier, and Khalidah had to release Anika to make sure he didn't get hit with the blow. "You asked for it." Khalidah threatened Atem. She drew her power into a sword to match Atem. Now they both charged at each other, swords clashing. "It was a simple choice for Anika to make." Khalidah hissed at Atem. "But since you insist on getting in the way, I'll just make it easy on myself and kill all of you. And of course, Atem, your royal highness, you will be the first to go!" She pushed against Atem's sword, making him back up before she backed off herself. The sword now gone, Khalidah murmured a quick spell under her breath. Atem got up and faced her, angry above all else. As soon as he faced the woman, a wave of energy hurled towards Atem. Anika looked on in horror as the attack hit the prince. Not did it throw him backwards, it also put a deep gash in his chest. Atem yelled out in pain as he finally hit the ground

"Atem!" she cried, running to him.

"No, stay back!" Atem told her, trying to get up without increasing his wound. Atem coughed, blood spurting from his mouth. Anika took her eyes off Atem and glared at Khalidah behind her, her heart started pumping adrenaline, pumping faster and faster with each beat. "Now to finish the job..." Khalidah said, preparing for similar attack. Anika clenched her fists tight.

"No." she murmured as the wind started to blow around her. The sand from the courtyard created clouds of dust as Anika's eyes started glowing red. The wind started blowing faster as Anika began to release more energy. Khalidah was now barely visible. She was astounded of the power this girl truly possessed. Khalil's visibility of Anika was diminishing.

"Anika!" he cried. Atem looked up to see Anika suddenly starting to rise slightly off the ground.

"No!" Atem exclaimed. He wasn't going to let Anika repeat her actions from the fight with Bakura. Atem got to his feet as fast as he could and ambled quickly towards Anika with increasing difficulty. Anika had her arms crossed in front of her face, eyes glowing brighter. A mass of black energy began growing by her crossed arms. Atem gasped as he saw the beginnings of a black orb surrounding the girl. "No!" Atem repeated, as he finally reached her. Atem grabbed on to Anika's arm while holding his wound and dragged Anika back to the ground, but it was too late. What power Anika had summoned had lashed out on Khalidah right then. The woman's yell was heard through the wind, but not a thing was seen. Atem finally got Anika close to him. He put his arms around her and held her tightly. The wind began to slow down and finally dissipated. Anika grew limp as the dust settled down. The courtyard was now cleared, leaving Anika, Atem, and Khalil huddled together in the battles' wake.

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Now everything was quiet. Atem was still on his knees, holding to Anika yet as she lay in his arms, Khalil was quivering and clutching onto both of them. Atem's hold on Anika relaxed, putting space between them as he had her rest on the ground. Atem placed his hand near Anika's mouth to feel for anything coming out of her. Within a second, a small burst of warm air escaped Anika's lips. Glad she was still alive, Atem drew in a quick breath to sigh out, but as soon as his inhale ceased, his hand clutched his wound once again and the breath in came out in a yell in pain. He turned from Anika and leaned forward, his forearm on the ground.

"Prince!" Khalil exclaimed, running to the other side of Anika to Atem.

"Don't worry, Khalil." The prince assured him. "I'll be fine. It's your sister is what I'm worried about." Just as he finished speaking, Anika moaned and her eyes opened slightly.

"Sister..." Khalil said as he put his arms around Anika's neck. Atem looked behind him.

"You had me worried Anika." he let out a small laugh. Anika propped herself a bit on her elbows, attempting to get up. She looked down at her clothes; a red, long, oblong shape had somehow made its way on her tunic.

"What on... How did..." she began. As soon as the scent of blood was recognized, she immediately looked up at Atem. He had a strange half-smile on his face he met Anika's eyes. "Atem!" she gasped, quickly crawling the few feet to him. "Let me see your wound..." Atem winced a little. His eyes remained clam, while panic could be seen all over Anika's face.

"I'm all right." Atem said, "No worries." The cut in Atem's torso was deep. If it had been a sliver deeper it could have ended Atem's life right then and there. Atem tried to Anika relax, but he couldn't seem change her mind.

"Khalil, listen to me." Anika instructed. Khalil's attention was fully on his big sister. "Run into the palace. Get anyone's attention and bring them out here. Go, now!" Khalil nodded and ran inside without a second thought. Anika turned her attention back to Atem.

"You don't have to do this, you know." Atem told her, his voice getting softer.

"Trust me," Anika said to him. "This is nothing compared to what you have done for me."

"Help!" Khalil yelled as he entered the palace. "Someone help!" Mana quickly went over to the boy.

"What's wrong?" she asked. Khalil informed,

"The prince! He's hurt!"

"The prince?" Seto repeated, suddenly appearing on the other side of Khalil.

"Outside!" the boy pointed out the door, answering Seto's question before he could answer it and ran back out to the two teenagers.

"Get Mahad, Mana!" Seto told Mana as he hurriedly went out to the courtyard. "Prince Atem!" Seto yelled. Mahad came followed Seto's path seconds later. A few guards came out as well. "My God!" Seto murmured. "What happened to the prince?" Atem looked up, a little embarrassed for his advisers seeing him on the ground in pain. He soon overcame his mortified feeling as he concentrated on making sure his wound wouldn't increase. The blood on his shirt began to spread out as more of it was lost. Seto, Mahad, and two guards lifted him off the ground at this point, telling him to stay completely motionless. Mana, who stood half-way between Anika and Khalil and the palace, watched Atem go inside, and then looked back at Anika. Khalil looked up at his big sister and tugged on her tunic to get her attention.

"What's going to happen to the Prince?" he asked. "I don't know, Khalil." Anika answered with tears in her eyes as she saw Atem fade away into the palace. "I don't know."

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The desert sand was hot under Keon's feet as he stumbled back into his village after two days wondering the open, arid, region. His fist was clutching the reigns of an unsupplied camel. Two other men came up to meet him near the entrance. The both looked on with worry. "Let's get you some water and into the shade." One immediately said. Keon nodded and was taken into his home, where in seconds, passed out. He was carried to his bed. His brother, sister, and fiancée all sat around him. His fiancée Cena sat on her legs, stroking his head. Keon quietly moaned. Cena let out a small gasp.

"Keon...?" she softly murmured his name. "Keon, please wake up..." Keon opened his eyes to see a beautiful woman looking at him, a worrisome expression upon her face. Once Keon had opened his eyes a little wider, the troubled expression slowly melted away into a smile. Keon returned the smile weakly.

"You're awake! Finally!" Keon's brother spoke.

"Yeah..." he mumbled, attempting to get up. The older sibling helped him in the process. Cena quickly fetched some water and some food for her tiresome fiancée. Once Keon was upright, he took the food and drink that was held out to him. He took a good-sized bite and started to chew. Before Cena could say another word, the brother quickly asked,

"Hey, where's Khalil?" Everyone looked around. He was right. Khalil wasn't around. Keon tensed a bit.

"I do not know." He stated after swallowing. "On our second day of travel, the wind had picked up, and we were going to find shelter, but as soon as Khalil reached the ground, we were sucked under; below the desert's surface." Everyone waited for Keon to continue after another mouthful of food. He knew what they were going to ask next. "We ended up in a woman's dwelling. It was secluded, dark, dank, and I knew it was trouble. I had been out for a while, but once I woke up, this mysterious woman nearly shoved me out of the place. She said she was keeping 'the boy'." Keon grunted after a moment of silence. "I just hope that 'the boy' is safe..."

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Atem lay on his bed back at the palace, wound wrapped up in cloth. At this point, the prince had been sleeping for about a day and a half. The amount of blood lost from that one attack made his faint. Eyes open slightly; Atem was now slowly gaining back strength. He was able to sit up at an angle, propped up by a number of pillows. Anika was relived once Mahad told her about Atem's recovery, but the feeling vanished once he went on saying that Atem wanted to see her and Khalil. Khalil was thrilled, but as for Anika, she felt a little nervous facing him. Again, he was severely hurt because of her.

At the moment Anika now stood against the wall furthest from Atem's bed where he was reclined. Khalil stood beside her, watching the two. Anika's eyes were focused on an area on the ground to the right.

"H-how are you doing?" Anika asked, breaking the silence.

"Fine," came Atem's answer. Anika slowly looked at him out of the corner of her eye. "It wasn't too bad. The wound, that is." Which was a lie, and Anika knew it. She saw the amount of blood from the cut. Atem hoped his words would make Anika feel better about the situation. He didn't want Anika to worry. There was another long silence.

"I'm sorry..." Anika mumbled, looking back down at her feet. "This is my fault." Atem shook his head,

"No, it's not." He corrected her. "Come on over here, Anika." and motioned her to come closer. Khalil stayed put, still silent as a mouse.

"It _is_ my fault. I'm the reason that evil... conniving... brother-stealing prince-wounding witch came here in the first place!" she ranted.

"That doesn't matter," Atem began. "It was my plan of action yesterday, not yours, that gave me this cut. I put myself in the middle of it all" There was another small silence. Within the moment Anika had an idea,

'Maybe that's how I'll pay him back.' She thought, looking at Atem's face, then his three-fourths coved chest. 'I guess it can't do any more harm...' Anika now sighed and completely faced Atem. "I think that... I could possibly make this up to you, Atem." she spoke, a little nervous once again. Atem looked at her.

"You don't have to do anything for me." the prince said. "I'll recover soon enough." Anika shook her head.

"I might be able to help you wound." Khalil now moved up to the edge of the bed, a small smile was on his face. He knew what was going to happen. Atem's eyebrows rose.

"How will you do that?" he asked, interested since he saw Khalil's face light up.

"As destructive as my power may be, it can also help. The first time I realized this is after Khalil scraped his knee once. I placed my hand on his knee, and it healed." Anika looked down at Atem, to Khalil, then Atem again. Atem looked at Khalil, whose smile had grown. Atem looked back at the village girl. He could trust her.

"Alright, you can give it a try." Atem nodded. Anika copied his head movement. She was a bit shaky, unsure if it would work. She had tried previously on Khalil again when he was hurt, but nothing had happened. It was also awkward instructing the royal prince in all this.

"Don't you have to take off the bandages?" Khalil asked. Atem was way ahead of him and started to untie the knot on his side. With the help of Khalil and Anika, all the cloth had been removed, exposing the large scar across Atem's chest. Luckily, the injury hadn't reopened and was clean.

"Heal away, Anika." Atem smiled, lightening up the moment, as well as the tense village girl. Anika let out a small laugh before taking in a deep breath. She placed her hands over the hurt areas of Atem's chest, closed her eyes, and slowly began to breathe in. As Anika's breath escaped her lungs the first time, a bright red glow began to appear around her hands. The second breath, it grew brighter. By the third time, Atem let out a small moan, "Aah..." he cringed slightly. But bit by bit, the damage that had been dealt started to fade away. Another minute and Anika was done. Atem let out another small groan as Anika drew her hands back.

"I'm sorry." She apologized. Atem smiled,

"It was nothing." He said. "Just a little sore from it is all. It was a pain to make it better and I thank you for that." He looked down at what used to be a large gash. It was now no more than a thin slit surrounded by a large scar. 'Wow...' Atem thought. He now looked back up at his healer.

"You never stop to amaze me, Anika." He said.

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The next day, while Atem was resting, Anika was showing her little brother around, showing him this and that, introducing him to different people in the palace.

"Well aren't you cute!" Mana laughed, messing up his hair. Khalil blushed and put on a wide grin, placing his hands on top of his head, smoothing out the black mess that Mana had made. Mahad laughed at Mana's response, before stating,

"Well, as cute as Mana thinks you are, I should thank you for helping out when Prince Atem was hurt." Khalil recalled the events before and nodded. Mahad looked at both of the girls. "The prince is doing fairly well. With how stubborn he is, I'm sure he'll get back on that throne of his in no time at all."

Turns out that Mahad was right. Just in a few days, Atem was back in his rightful place on the throne. But just as a precaution, Atem had waited those few days before attempting to move around freely for a few reasons; he didn't want to risk anything happening to the wound, and he didn't want to raise any suspicions as to how he healed so quickly. If someone had just met the prince, they might think he was invincible. As soon as he was back on the throne, Atem ordered a search for Khalidah all over Egypt. He did not know if she was dead or alive, he wasn't taking the chance. He felt that she would return, sooner or later, to claim Anika's power for herself.

"Are you ok?" Anika asked Atem a day after the search began. The prince who was pacing the floor, immediately responded,

"Fine," Anika looked at him in disbelief. She knew that when Atem paced, he was thinking about many things at once, or thinking very quickly. Atem saw the look, stopped his pacing, and sighed,

"Alright," he confessed. "I'm not what you would call 'fine'." Anika bobbed her head once. At least he admitted it. Now Atem confessed his reasons, "You've been in a lot of danger. I want to stop anything that could hurt you..." he trailed off. Anika shook her head.

"Believe me, Atem" she assured him. "If there was any real danger coming, more likely than not, I would know."

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Night had fallen. Every star seemed to shine brighter for the reason that there as a new moon. But also for the same reason, it was a little darker in and around the palace. Around mid-night, a dark figure hid among the shadows. They pressed up against the backside of the palace wall. Shifting over to the right, they squatted down near the corner, hands gently rubbing the surface. Once the fingers touched something harder than the sand, they smiled and lifted the sand-covered wood, reveling a hole underneath. They weren't too favorable to crawling, it was the only way to get to the other side of the wall. The sand inside the palace wall altered as another piece of wood was lifted. A pair of eyes scoured the area. No guards around here. Once out, they brushed themselves off, and fixed the secret passage to the way it was.

Now to put my plan into action." They said, quietly slipping into the palace. The corridors were dimly lit by lowly-burning torches on the walls. The intruder made note of the guards around, but as they figured, not enough to stop this plan from unfolding. "Too easy..." the figure chuckled quietly. Stalking in the halls, the mysterious figure kept within the darkness as they neared a few bedrooms. Something in their gut told the trespasser the room on the left belonged to Atem. However, they stopped short when they heard a girl's slight moan from the room across the hall. The moan was accompanied by a rustle of bed sheets and a small sigh as Anika relaxed on her bed once more. She had stretched and changed her pose on the bed. A smirk slithered onto the mysterious figure's face. They went over to the room where the noise was heard. Along the furthest wall from the door was a bed. No, two of them. The petite make-shift one was being occupied by a small young boy. The other was taken by a teen aged girl with long black hair. She faced away from the boy. "Much too easy." The figure whispered again, walking in. Anika lay motionless on her bed. The figure now stood above her, and was searching for something within a pocket. As soon as their hand felt something small and round, excitement ran through their body for a split second. A small jar was pulled out of the pocket. A string held the lid on tight. With the removal of the string, the lid was lifted. The mostly silhouette figure held the miniscule pot near Anika and a dark green substance was released. It could have been some kind of thick smoke. The smoke-like substance floated around the sleeping girl before it settled down within her. Anika's eyes tightened as she let out a groan. She moved slightly, as if struggling to get out of the something, before she eventually let out a large breath of air and returned to her previous state in slumber. The intruder placed the lid back on the jar, placed it back into their pocket, and quickly disappeared into the night.

Atem awoke with a gasp as he jolted from his bed. A chill ran down his spine as he recalled his nightmare. The images were clear in his head but for whatever reason, he couldn't put them into words. Something had happened to Anika, that's all he could say. He felt that she was in danger. The prince quickly but calmly took the sheets off of him and traveled across and down the hall to Anika's room on the right side of the hall. When he approached the door he whispered,

"Anika?" He didn't wait for a reply as he entered Anika's room. Atem peered in the darkness and saw Anika fast asleep under the covers. Khalil was doing the same. Atem let out a small sigh of relief. His nightmare was making him a bit paranoid. His guards would stop anyone from coming in here. Atem walked over to Anika's bedside. He looked over at Khalil, in his own little bed besides Anika's. His vision traveled back to the sleeping girl. His hand reached over as he stroked her cheek once, and turned to leave the room. He foot stepped on something just then; a small string. Seeing it as nothing, he used his foot to drag it over to the wall. He kicked it over to the wall. He looked down at Anika once more, turned and left the room. Even though Anika was peacefully sleeping, in the back of his mind, Atem knew something was wrong.

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(A/N:) DUN DUN DUN DUUUN! XD I just _had_ to end this chapter with some suspense. So yes, Cena is Keon's fiancée. Did they have those in ancient Egypt? In my world they did! (Heehee.) but yeah, she here today, gone tomorrow. And what of Khalidah? Did she die? Did she return? Only I know that one! (insert evil laugh here) And Anika can heal wounds! Whoo-hoo! Double-edged sword stuff going on there. And she got to see the prince without his shirt on! (how in the _world_ did she not faint? XD!!!)

That's all from me. I know it was long, (get used to it! XD) but I hope that it was worth it!

Thanks for reading!

-DQ64-


	8. Old Enemy, New Tricks

Anika awoke the next morning earlier than usual. A slight headache bothered her as she lowly opened her eyes. She groaned lightly and put a hand to her forehead.

'Maybe I just need some fresh air.' She figured. She looked at Khalil, who was fast asleep still, hugging his pillow as he did so. Anika smiled lightly and pulled the covers slightly higher on the bed so all of Khalil, minus his head, was covered. A content sigh escaped her, but the headache pained her again, forcing her to walk out to the courtyard to get the air she needed.

About an hour and a half later, the prince rose from his bed. He stretched and suddenly remembered last night.

'Anika...' the thought came to him instantly as he quickly took off the covers and walked over to Anika's room, just so he would have a peace of mind when he saw her sleeping calmly and quietly. One peek inside and... Anika wasn't there. Atem muttered something under his breath as he quickly walked down the hall. "Be in the courtyard, Anika." The feeling that something wrong was going to happen was slowly fading away, and Atem did start to calm down, but only slightly. He started to tense back up when he thought of the dream he had last night. He shuddered and tried to shake the feeling. He rounded the corner quickly and took four steps out into the courtyard before surveying the area. Atem let out a sigh of relief when he saw her. Safe, relaxed, lunging on a bench in the sunlight. Atem approached her

"Morning." Atem called out as he neared the girl. Anika looked towards Atem's voice.

"Morning." She repeated, sitting up on the bench.

"How are you feeling today?" Atem asked.

"I'm... fine." Anika responded, slightly puzzled. "Why do you ask?" Atem waited before answering and shifted his gaze around on the ground.

'I'm going to guess that my dreams aren't like Anika's and can tell me if something is going to happen. I must have been paranoid... ' He looked back at Anika. "I just had a dream last night where you were in danger... I just wanted to make sure that everything was ok." Anika nodded.

"Thanks for the concern. But the only thing that bothered me was a headache earlier this morning. It's gone now." There was another pause.

"Good to hear that you're alright." Atem spoke, "I was probably was just being paranoid." He laughed. "Stupid of me."

"No," Anika objected. "It's fine, it's normal. It happens to me sometimes... But then again, I am far from normal." She added the last sentence in a quiet bitterness.

"Found you!" A voice called out. Anika looked behind Atem, as he looked over his shoulder to see Khalil running to Anika. Anika stood as he came closer and in turn, Khalil hugged her waist.

"Hey you!" Anika smiled, messing her brother's hair. He laughed and tried to fix it before saying,

"Something strange happened last night." He was slightly serious now. "I woke up in the middle of the night, and I saw someone in the room."

"Was it me?" Atem asked. Khalil looked at him, waiting for him to continue. "I came in for a second last night." Khalil shook his head.

"He had white-ish hair... and when he left, in the dim light I saw a scar on his face..."

"A scar?" Anika whispered quietly. Suddenly she gasped.

"Bakura?!" She and Atem said at the same time.

"That's probably what I sensed last night." Atem mentioned. "Are you sure you weren't dreaming?" He asked Khalil, and Khalil nodded.

"If it really is Bakura, and he's back..." Anika began. Atem let out a breath.

"We won't let our guard down, and we'll make a move before he does." He turned and faced Anika. He saw a flicker of something in her eyes that gave him the feeling he had the night before. "Don't worry, I'll think of something."

The day passed quickly. Darkness had fallen, and soon everyone was asleep. But unknowing to the guards, unknowing to Atem and Anika, a shadowy figure stalked the halls of the palace. Something in their hands dimly shone from the low light as they neared Atem's room this time. The figure moved the curtain as little as possible as they slipped in the room. They paused for a moment to take in their new and darkened surroundings. Atem was asleep in his bed, lying on his side and facing the entrance to his room. The drapery in front of the window had one corner lifted up to being in some of the moonlight into the room. The silhouette made its way across the floor to the edge of Atem's bed.

"Too easy." They spoke as they raised an arm high above Atem. Atem opened his eyes to see the moonlight reflect off of a blade coming down on him. Atem gasped and quickly rolled to the other side of the bed before leaping off of it. Another gasp escaped him when his eyes met his assassin's; glowing with malevolence across from him.

"A... Anika?!" the prince stammered. He was stunned. "What is... what are you doing?" he demanded, growing tense. Anika didn't answer him. She moved towards him, the dagger still clenched tightly in her fist. She took another swing at Atem with the blade, which Atem narrowly avoided. "What's the meaning of this?" Atem spoke as he moved around the room. Anika's eyes followed his movements in silence. Another opening became available for her as another attempt to catch Atem with the gleaming edge. She raised her arm like the first time, only to be stopped by Atem's stronger grasp on her wrist. Both were half-facing the window, and in the dim light of the room, Atem noticed the color of Anika's eyes were not the crimson red he knew. Instead they were a dark green color. Knowing quite a bit about magic and one's energy he had one thought alone in his head. "She's being controlled." Atem muttered. "But by who?" he asked slightly louder.

"I would have thought you would have figured it out by now." A voice answered. Atem looked to see Bakura in the doorway. He looked at Anika, then Bakura again.

"I should have known you would show up again." Atem scowled. "Rest assured, you're not going to get away so easily this time." From the slight distraction to Bakura, Anika tried to get herself away from Atem. Atem caught her movements and held both hands behind her back. She glared at him over her shoulder. "In fact," he said, taking the dagger from Anika's hands, "you're not going to get away at all."

"Think you can get rid of me so easily?" Bakura chuckled.

"Hm... Don't tempt me." Atem warned.

"This was only a minor setback in my plan..." Bakura began. "But how was I supposed to know you were a light sleeper?" He smirked. Truthfully, Atem wasn't able to sleep, for fear of that something could happen that night. He looked back at Anika, who hadn't moved since Atem took the dagger from her. "Let... Anika... go..." Atem demanded, looking back at the thief. Bakura folded his arms and answered,

"No. You remember what I want, correct?" Atem didn't answer. Bakura sighed; Atem was being a good sport about this. "I told you I was going to gain your power," he continued. "and now, I'll get Anika as well." Anika began to walk to Bakura at this point, still under Bakura's control. "Because I know you would do _anything_ to save her, right?" he mocked.

"That's it..." Atem muttered under his breath. He quickly lunged at Bakura with the dagger in hand. Bakura had planned to take a side step so Atem would go past him, but something on the floor blocked his first step and ended only turning half of the way he wanted to. He caught his breath as he felt himself falling. After hitting the floor he felt a trickle of something warm near his chest. A shallow mark was made near his shoulder. He cursed under his breath. Atem turned around and saw Bakura wipe the blood from his fresh wound off his chest. He went to strike again but a sudden hand on his shoulder made him hesitate. It was a hand with delicate fingers. He peered over his shoulder at the controlled girl. "Anika! Wake up!" He spoke. A flicker of her own strength came through and she blinked a few times. Bakura's fist suddenly came into the prince's peripheral view before it was stopped by Atem himself.

"Don't try and get her to listen to you. When she's under my control, she's _mine_." As he spoke those words, Bakura transferred more of his energy to Anika, regaining back any control his lost due to time and her fighting. The only price he paid was losing his own strength, which was a factor he put into consideration. He had planned how much energy he would use between him and Anika. He knew that Atem wouldn't stand a chance facing them both. Anika tightened her grip on Atem's shoulder as she fed on Bakura's energy, making Atem wince slightly. Another fist was coming towards Atem's face, but Atem wasn't quick enough to block the attack. Bakura's punch hit Atem right on the side of the face, sending him to the ground. Another flicker flew across Anika's eyes when she saw Atem hurt. '_No!_' Bakura's voice yelled in her head. 'You will _not_ care about him. You need to finish him.' More energy went to Anika; her face grew from a neutral expression to more of a scowl towards Atem. "Good girl." Bakura chuckled.

"Scoundrel" Atem said under his breath, raising himself up. He wiped blood from his fresh wound on his lip. Bakura blinked once hard. A sign, unknowing to Atem, that meant he was using too much energy. He was getting a bit ahead of himself, and hadn't expected to have to use as much energy as he did to fully control Anika. As he was thinking these facts through as he stared At Anika, who was still staring at the floor, he heard a voice. "Eye for an eye?" as a closed hand clashed with his face. The sudden attack cause Bakura to stumble backward and hit the closest wall behind him. He slid to the ground, slightly dizzy.

'Damn it all. I wasted too much energy today, too much tonight, and with controlling Anika....' Bakura thought, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. Atem towered above him from a few feet away, glaring at the villain. 'If I keep recklessly trying to kill the idiot of a prince with the girl, I might get killed myself.' He scowled. He had a plan flash through his mind, had a strong urge to do it, but decided against it. 'I'll probably regret doing this...' Atem waited for Bakura to rise, but he didn't. He sat on the floor with his eyes closed. Atem was tense, waiting for a sudden attack. Atem glanced back at Anika as she groaned,

"Uhh..." her eyes slowly began to go back to their original color as her knees began to buckle beneath her.

"Anika." Atem said in a harsh whisper, dropping the dagger and catching her before she fell. As he picked her up in his arms, Bakura began to chuckle from behind him. Atem quickly turned around to see Bakura use the wall behind him to prop himself up.

"You lucked out for now, Prince Atem." He laughed. Atem placed Anika on his bed, never taking his eyes off of the thief. "What do you mean by that? We're finishing this now!" he declared, preparing for a one-on-one fight.

"Not this time." Bakura claimed. A growl was heard from somewhere I the darkness of the room. Diabound had returned. Atem could hear it slither around. He took two steps back towards Anika to protect her. Still, his eyes never left Bakura as his Diabound appeared behind him. "We'll finish this in due time." Bakura told Atem. "Prepare to lose everything." With that being said, a strong wind spontaneously blew around the room. Atem shut his eyes and blocked his face with his arms. Bakura's laugh could be heard through the howling wind while he, and Diabound, vanished into thin air.

"Bakura?!" Atem yelled, searching for the criminal. Atem was all worked up now. He took control of this young girl whom he cared for, and then tried to make her kill him. "Perfect." He muttered angrily under his breath, followed by a few curse words as well. Anika's moan caught the prince's attention. He went to his bed, looking down at her. She herself didn't seem to have any wounds, any injury. "Just one major headache." He whispered. He covered Anika with the sheets and kneeled beside the bed. Atem watched as Anika drifted into a sound sleep, her expression alter from pained to relaxed. "Sleep well, sleep peacefully." He whispered softly before he fell sound asleep as well.

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Atem was Anika's first sight the next day. He was sitting on the floor, his upper body on leaning over on the bed, fast asleep. His head rested on a single arm, the other was stretched out in front of him. A quiet snore could be heard from him. Still lying on the bed, Anika lifted her head slightly take in her surroundings As Anika peered around the room she noticed they were in Atem's room, with her in Atem's bed. It was a very comfortable bed. However Anika was confused on how in the world she got there. She distinctly remembered that she had fallen asleep in her own room, in her own bed. She now sat up in the bed, and leaned over to the sleeping prince.

"Atem...?" She said softly, brushing her hand against his cheek. She quickly drew back her hand and suddenly let out a moan of pain, "Ow...my head..." she groaned as she placed her hand on her forehead, eyes squeezed tightly shut. It was Anika's touch that made Atem stir, but her voice woke him up instantly.

"Anika, Are you alright?" Atem asked. Anika jumped slightly at Atem's quick awakening.

"Y-Yeah... Just a... a headache." she stammered. She looked around the room again. "How... how did I end up in here?" Anika questioned. Atem looked down for a bit. Since he had just woken up, he had to think of the events that happened the night before. A small gasped escaped him as he remembered. He didn't know how to begin explaining it to Anika. He sighed.

"You..." he began, "You were being controlled, and you came into my room...." Atem broke off into a long silence.

"Controlled?" Anika repeated. Atem nodded. "By what? By who?" she asked.

"Bakura." Atem simply said as Anika's eyes grew wide, he breath quivered.

"That's why he must have been here that one night..." she recalled. Anika was slowing putting pieces together, and thinking of the possibilities.

"Please Atem," she spoke softly. "Tell me everything that happened." Atem was reluctant at first but then nodded. Anika usually had her hand covering her mouth and or had her eyes were wide. "I'm so sorry!" Anika sobbed once Atem had finished. She threw her arms around his neck. "So sorry...." Atem put his arms around her and rubbed her back.

"It's ok." He whispered in her ear. "It's all over now, and it wasn't your fault. Like I said, we'll keep up our guard, and make the next move." Anika pulled away and brought her knees up to her chest.

"I thought I would have been able to sense at least something wrong." She spoke.

"Maybe you have used up too much of your power." Atem said, raising Anika's chin up so their eyes met. Anika looked back down. Neither of them spoke. Anika's mind racing, thinking of what exactly was going on, and what exactly had happened the night before. 'I want to know everything there is to know about what this thing, this power is, inside me...' She thought. '...Before something worse happens...' Anika was silent for a while, thinking things over. She finally spoke, "Too many things are going on at once." She looked at Atem. "And where would we even begin to 'find a way' to anything?" It didn't take Atem too long to answer.

"We know that there is a spirit inside you, and that's a start. We just have to figure out if you can truly control it."

"I can't." Anika said promptly. Before Atem could protest, both heard Anika's name being called out. It was Khalil. Anika quickly got off the bed and went to her and Khalil's room. She stumbled slightly both from her rush and the headache came back slightly. "Yes?" Anika answered when she got there.

"Oh. I was just wondering where you were." Khalil spoke quietly. "I was just talking to Atem." She noted. Khalil nodded.

"Are you ok?" Khalil suddenly asked seeing Anika rub her forehead a little. She was a little surprised at the question.

"I'm fine." She hesitated. "Just a little headache."

"Oh." he said again as Atem walked towards Khalil and Anika. "Morning, prince!" Khalil exclaimed. Atem let out a chuckle,

"Good morning." He replied. "But you can call me Atem." He added. "'Kay." Khalil smiled. Something began to smell coming from the kitchen. "Something smells good..." Khalil murmured. Atem still heard him and told Khalil,

"Why don't you go and figure out what it is, Khalil. We'll catch up." "Yeah!" he smiled widely before taking off down the hall. Anika and Atem laughed at his anticipation. Atem turned towards Anika with a sense of sincerity. "Anika," he started, "Later today, we can begin on figuring out what the sprit inside you is like, and perhaps controlling it as well" He paused, and faced Anika, "That is, if you want to."

"I-I don't know." Anika stuttered. She looked down before closing her eyes.

"We'll take it one step at a time. And if anything starts to get out of hand, we'll stop." Atem pointed out. There was a slight pause, but Anika raised her head and opened her eyes.

"Alright." She said. "Let's do it."

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It was now midday; the sun was bright in the pale blue sky. Atem had finished the little work he had that day, and later he met with Anika on the roof.

"I'm not going to lie, I'm a bit nervous." She admitted, looking out into the open desert. Even with the land obviously barren, it felt like all of Egypt was watching her from the high roof.

"One step at a time." Atem said again from earlier that morning. He held up the spell book he was carrying under his arm. "There are different ways of controlling spirits and magic. However, they have the same concept." Atem explained, flipping pages in the book.

"Really?" Anika questioned. Atem nodded, then looked up at Anika.

"Ready?" he asked. Anika took a big breath.

"Ready." she repeated. "As much as I'll ever be."

"Let's begin." Atem announced. He stopped at a page in the book he held in his lap.

"Atem?" Anika started. Atem looked up from the book. "Well, it's just that..." she trailed off as Atem stood and walked over to her as she continued. "I'm afraid it will get out of control..." Anika said plainly. Atem put his hand on her shoulder and gazed into her eyes. He saw, unmistaken, there was no fear in Anika's eyes. Only concern for those she loved and cared for.

"If things start to look like they are getting out of hand, we'll stop, and begin again when you're ready. No matter what, even if you make a mistake, or something happens, I won't give up on you." There was a slight sparkle in Anika's eyes as she smiled slightly.

"Thanks." She said quietly. Atem smiled and gave her a nod. "Now," He began as he sat back down. "Here's the first step. Close your eyes, Anika." Anika took a breath in and did as she was told. "Different kinds of energy flow through every one of us." Atem explained. "Try to think of the power inside you and focus on it. Do you feel anything flowing through you?" he asked. There was a moment of silence before Anika announced,

"I... I can feel it... and feel where it flows..."

"Very good." Atem stated. "The next thing to do is trying to control where it goes. I know that you can have some control over your power, like when you healed my wound." He recalled, placing his hand over the scar on his chest. "Try doing the same thing." He instructed.

"How, exactly?" Anika asked, Atem placed the book at his side and walked back over to Anika.

"You want to have your arms out straight in front of you." Atem told her. Anika thrust her arms out "That's just about it...." Atem put his arms around her as he gently lifted her arms up just a little. Anika blushed slightly. "Now," Atem started again, "Close your eyes and focus as you were doing before." Anika took a deep breath and concentrated. She held her hands in front of her. 'Here I go.' Anika thought. Nothing happened at first, but soon enough the air began to swirl around Anika as she concentrated more and more. A small ball of energy began to form right in Anika's hands. Atem's eyebrows were raised seeing her do this so well for a first time. 'No!' Anika gasped in her head as she grew tense. The wind blew faster, and the power in Anika was too much for her to handle. 'No!' she repeated as she lost control, the energy throwing her backwards and landing her hard on the roof. "Anika!" Atem called out and ran to her. Anika sat up a rubbed her head a little.

"I'm okay." She breathed. Atem let out a sigh of relief. He opened his mouth to say something, but was cut off by Priest Seto calling his name, looking for the unseen Prince on the roof.

"Yes?" Atem called back, immediately standing up and walking towards Seto's voice so he could spot him. Anika, still lying down, listened to the conversation. She couldn't see them and they couldn't see her. "What were you doing on the roof, my Prince?" she heard Seto ask. Atem casually answered with a slight scoff,

"Nothing important."

'What?' Anika thought. 'Nothing important? Was he lying to me before? Or is he...' Anika quietly stood and followed Atem at a distance, eavesdropping on the conversation.

"You can't afford to waste time, my prince!" Seto told him. "There are many things to attend to."

"Yes, I know." Atem sighed. "It won't happen again." Atem answered. Anika slowly followed the two, hoping for more.

"What does Atem mean?" Anika whispered to herself. "Am I a ... waste of time?" Anika hid in a doorway as she watched Atem disappear within the meeting room. "A waste of time." She whispered. "Of course, why not? ...I should have known." She went back to the roof, staring off towards the horizon. She clenched her fists hard, took a deep breath, and then relaxed her hands. "Now that I think of it." she began. "I've done nothing but get in Atem's way and cause trouble for him." She looked towards the site of her village. The wind blew in the direction of the ruins, urging her in a way to go back. "Strange." She murmured. Without giving a second thought, Anika made up her mind to walk there. "I have a feeling something's going to happen..." She began walking towards the palace gate. She was in such a daze on the way down she nearly ran into it when she arrived. "Oh!" she yelped as the door came within inches of her face. To her luck and surprise, it was slightly open. Anika knew that it would be impossible to open the monstrous great gate even a tiny bit wider, but did manage to squeeze through the slim opening. She looked up at the gate, and the bit of palace she could see from her standpoint and gave a sigh. "Better start moving." She droned and started her way to the village.

Prince Atem, Seto, and the other six priest were all gathered at the meeting. Seto was explaining a problem within the kingdom.

"These two villages are fighting because one supposedly...." Isis zoned out on what he was saying for a moment. A slight chill ran through her. "...turning against one another." Seto finished.

'Odd...' Isis thought. 'What was that about?'

After walking for quite sometime, Anika arrived at the ruins of her village. Whatever force that pulled her there now had vanished the moment she arrived. Still, Anika felt a little uneasy.

"Just memories." She figured. Anika walked around, trying to figure out what had led her there. She looked around, remembering streets. She sat down on a somewhat flat piece of rubble and began to think of what Atem said earlier. She would love to believe that Atem cared about her and didn't mind going out of his way for her, but her contradiction, the part that was true, is that she was a waste of time. "Mmm!" she groaned unhappily as he drew her knees in and rested her head upon them.

"So did you get any further then that?" A voice suddenly spoke. Anika was drawn out of her world with a gasp. She quietly began to stand, looking around.

"Did the plan work?" Another unknown voice was heard. Anika walked towards the voices, hiding behind a wall of a collapsed home.

"No. I had underestimated the prince and that dumb girl." Another voice answered. Anika knew that voice.

"Bakura..." her voice barely audible. A chill ran through Anika as she slowly peered around the wall. Bakura and all of his pillagers had met in the middle of the village. "Damn." She swore. Anika pressed herself against the wall.

"I'd have a better chance for just killing them both." Bakura groaned. Anika let out a small gasp and threw her hands over her mouth, hoping no one heard. She squeezed her eyes shut and pressed her back even further into the wall, trying to make herself invisible. Nothing was heard for a while. Anika stayed in her position.

'Don't panic.' She told her self. 'They'll soon leave. Don't panic.' It was absolutely still. Anika's heart rate was starting to slow down. 'Maybe it's safe...'

"Well look who we have here...." Bakura spoke right in Anika's ear. Anika's eyes shot open as she saw Bakura looking straight at her. He was close to her, leaning over her with an arm causally resting above her head. Anika's breath quickened. She was trapped. More importantly, trapped by King Thief Bakura. Anika's legs felt the urge to run, but the rest of her body was frozen. Her legs tried to free her, but she only managed to loose her balance. Bakura caught her by the arm before she fell. "Careful." He smirked. Anika slipped out of his grasp. She was more furious at him then anything else.

"You tried to make me kill Atem!" she shouted at him.

"Guilty." Bakura admitted. Even though they were alone, Anika still felt surrounded. Bakura continued. "But the prince ruined my plans by being a light sleeper..." he shot Anika a glance. "Whatever power is in you ruined the plan as well."

"What is this 'plan'?" Anika demanded. "What are you trying to gain?" Bakura made a few advances on her as Anika backed up.

"You're a smart girl..." Bakura replied. "...you can figure it out."

"You're a thief." Anika stated. "You want Atem's power and take over the country." Bakura gave a small chuckle.

"Close. But you're missing some key ideas." Bakura smirked again. "No... I... won't... let you." Anika muttered under her breath. She took a few steps back. Very quickly she closed her eyes, put her hands out in front of her, and concentrated. The wind started to pick up. 'This was not a waste of time for me!' Anika thought. Energy began to form in her hands just like before. By instinct, she drew her arms towards her. The wind then got faster, Anika was about to lose control. She thrust her hands away from her, and her energy went for Bakura. As Anika was flown backwards from the force, but her wave of energy made a wound on Bakura's left arm. Bakura gripped the cut immediately. He walked over to Anika.

"So... you're trying to control your power, I see." He grumbled. Anika rubbed her head and looked up at Bakura. "You're not the only one with a power inside of them." He laughed a shadow creature began to form behind him. Anika gasped as the shadow grew. 'Atem...' she cried to herself. 'I'm sorry.'

The meeting continued at the palace. Seto was going on about a criminal incident.

"Someone from 'Village A' had stolen some food and livestock from..." His voice was trailing off to Isis, since she was having trouble concentrating. She felt that something wasn't right.

"We can't have this continue." Shada said. "We should...." Isis's Millennium Necklace began to glow.

"Anika's in danger!" She suddenly said. Atem turned his attention to Isis.

What kind of danger?" He asked. Isis closed her eyes and concentrated on the vision coming to her.

"She's at the ruins of her village." Isis informed. She grew stern before giving the last piece of information. "Bakura's there as well." Forgetting about the meeting, Atem sprinted out of the room. He continued to the palace stables, immediately jumping onto his horse. He had no time to waste as he burst through the stable and out of the open palace gates. "Bakura...!" he muttered angrily under his breath. "If you do any harm to Anika, lay on finger on her... I'll kill you..."

The shadow behind Bakura took the form of Diabound.

"See..." Bakura said. "We are alike. We both have a shadow creature inside of us. The only difference is that you don't know how to control yours." Anika stood quickly, still shaking.

"I'm learning from Atem!" she shot. Anika wanted to run as Bakura drew near once again, but she stayed and stood her ground.

"Really?" he questioned. "And you think he's only trying to help you?" He began to circle around her, making her nervous. Anika remembered what she heard Atem say about what he was doing. "Nothing important." He had said. Anika shook her head a little. 'Time to mess with her mind.' He thought. "You have a great power within you, Miss Anika." Bakura continued. "Perhaps even greater then Prince Atem's..."

"What's your point?" Anika snapped, trying to keep her nervousness from showing. Bakura let out a small laugh at the vain attempt.

"That maybe anything that Atem said about caring for you wasn't true. He's royalty. And you're what? nothing but a peasant girl with a strong energy. He wants your power from himself; only to become what every damn member of the Egyptian royal family wants to become: The greatest and most powerful Pharaoh."

"Atem's different." Anika shakily defended him. Bakura laughed. her. "It may seem that way. But as soon as he discovers the full potential of your power, he'll toss you aside even sooner. Because face it," Bakura was right behind Anika, his face right next to hers. "to him, you are nothing important." Anika gasped as Bakura repeated Atem's exact words. "No!" she cried. "No!"

Back inside, Mana was walking around with Khalil when she saw Mahad coming out of the meeting room.

"Hey Mahad!" Mana smiled.

"Where's my sister?" Khalil smiled as well. Not wanting to worry Khalil, Mahad spoke,

"I'm guessing she's around here somewhere!" They all laughed, knowing Anika and her usual walk-arounds. "Mana, can I speak with you for a moment?" Mahad asked, still smiling as he led his apprentice around the corner. But motioned Mana to meet him around the corner. Once out of ear-shot of Khalil, Mahad grew serious. Mana knew right away what was going on.

Is she alright?" she asked worriedly.

"We're all hoping so. Isis had a vision that she was in danger. She had walked to the ruins and had a run-in with Bakura." Mana bit her tongue to keep from cursing out that thief.

"Hate that guy." As all that she could mutter.

"Don't tell Khalil." Mahad told her. "This could be a delicate situation. Atem is probably nearly there by this time. Everything will turn out alright."

'It's Bakura.' Mana thought bitterly. 'Nothing will end well once he's mixed into this.'

'"Nothing important?"' Bakura thought. 'I struck a nerve with that one.' He smiled. "If Atem will teach you just so he can get your power, why not let me teach you instead?" he asked.

"Why would I do that?" Anika scoffed a bit.

"You owe me." Bakura looked at her out of the corner of his eye.

"What do you mean, I 'owe' you?" Anika asked. "You have done absolutely nothing but cause me misery a fear!"

"Just doing my job." He laughed. But don't you don't remember?" Bakura went on. "About eight years ago? A young girl and her baby brother were being chased out of their village one night?" Anika's eyes grew wide as he continued. "And a young boy helped her through a window to escape when she was trapped by the angry villagers?" Anika let out a small gasp, flashing back to that night. "And the horse the boy took to let her get out of that village?"

"T-that was _you_?" Anika trembled, falling to her knees. "_You_ saved me?" Bakura just smiled at her.

"That's why you owe me, Anika."

"No!" Anika cried out. "You're wrong!" Anika gripped her head in her hands, trying to shake away the thought. "No!"

"Bakura!" Atem suddenly shouted. "Get away from her!" Atem rode down the sand dune that overlooked where Bakura and Anika were. "Just in time." Bakura smirked.

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(A/N:) Wow! It's been a while, huh? Sorry about that! It was my senior year of high school, so that took up a good chunk of my time. Yarg. Plus more and more drama in my life. Gotta love that -sarcasm - I do hope that I can get back into the habit of writing these fanfics!

I do hope that this chapter was good for you guys. I was listening to this creepy music when I started writing it and it just took off with all the stuff with Bakura! Lol. Hope you enjoyed, and thank you SO much for reading!

Love! ~DQ64


	9. The Great Battle

"Bakura!" Atem shouted. "Get away from her!" Bakura looked up from Anika to Atem. He let out a scoff then looked back at Anika. "Atem..." Anika whispered under her breath, both relieved and surprised to see him there.

"Why should I?" Bakura asked.

"I know you're up to no good, and I don't want you dragging Anika in with you." Atem answered in a raised voice.

"Oh-ho!" Bakura exclaimed "So how do you know what I'm doing isn't for the better for this girl?" he kept spitting out questions.

"Because I care for her, and I would never let anyone or anything harm her! And you're one of those things! " he shouted. There was a long pause. Anika's eyes grew wide, tears began to slowly form in the corners.

"So... I'm not... 'nothing important'?" she stuttered, breaking the silence. Atem looked down at her.

"Anika..." he murmured to himself. "No..." He said out loud. "You're very important to me. Why would you think of something so preposterous?"

"I heard you tell the guard you were doing 'nothing important' after we were practicing, and then Bakura said that..." Anika trailed off. Atem answered,

"I only said that because I thought you wanted to keep it just between us at that point. I really do care about you, and I would never say you were nothing important and mean it." Anika looked up at Atem, she could feel tears making their way to her eyes. 'So he does care....' she thought happily.

"What lies." Bakura shook his head.

"What?!" Atem exclaimed.

"You may want the power inside of this girl," he said, and gestured to Anika, "but honestly, she's a lot more trouble then you think." He smirked. "I'll be happy to take her out of your hands."

"I'll be happy if you never laid a hand on her!" Atem angrily responded.

"I already have, and nothing's stopping me from doing it again!" He spun around to grab Anika, who stumbled backwards and fell. Bakura went to grab for her.

"Freeze Spell!" A voice yelled from behind Atem. Bakura couldn't move, he was stopped in his tracks. 'What is this?' he thought. 'I Can't...move...'

"Anika!" Atem called to her, his hand outreached. It took a moment for Anika to realize what was going on. She scrambled to her feet and ran into Atem's arms. Atem looked to see Priests Mahad, Seto, and Shada along with Isis all on horseback next to him. They all got off their horses, running to a still Bakura, about to summon their monsters.

"Master Bakura!" one of his followers called out, also running to Bakura. More of Bakura's men repeated the first one's actions, and encircled Bakura. One of them smashed something on the ground, creating a large cloud of smoke, obscuring everyone's vision. "Don't let him escape!" Seto yelled. As the smoke cleared, everyone saw that Bakura and his men were gone. Anika clung to Atem as they all heard Bakura's voice,

"You haven't seen the last of me... You can bet I'll be back for her..."

Anika was gripping onto Atem while he had his arms around her as they both stared at the village ruins. Anika turned away and buried her face I Atem's shirt. No matter how tightly she closed her eyes or deep she dug into Atem, there was no way of ridding the sound of Bakura's voice off the destroyed walls and his face from Anika's mind. She shuddered, slightly fading both. She and Atem loosed their hold on one another.

"Search the area for a while." Atem called to Mahad and the others. They all nodded and did as they were told. He turned back to Anika. "Are you alright?" he asked. Anika looked up at Atem, then back down.

"Yes... I'm fine..." she answered quietly. "How did you find me here?" she added after a moment of silence.

"Isis had a vision that you were here, in danger." Atem said. Anika gave a nod.

"Oh..."

"What made you come here?" Atem kept asking questions. Anika sighed.

"I'm not quite sure. I had sensed something coming from the village, like something was going to happen."

"I see." Atem responded. "As adventurous anyone may be, you may be, if you think that something bad is going to happen... Please, tell me." Anika lowered her head before nodding once.

"Ok. I'm sorry."

"It's alright." Atem held her close to him and soon Anika released her tension.

After a while, Mahad, Seto, and Shada returned with no clues of Bakura. They all rode back to the palace, Anika sitting behind Atem. As Atem was putting his horse in the stable, he noticed Anika in deep thought. "Something the matter?" he asked. His voice almost made Anika jump.

"Huh? Oh... Um... no. I'm fine." As Atem turned his back on her, Anika murmured quietly, "I can't believe I owe him my life." Atem still heard her.

"What are you talking about?" Atem said. Anika sighed.

"Well," she began, "Remember how I said the village you found me in was my second home?" Atem turned to face Anika. "Yes." Anika sighed as she told Atem the story of when she was younger; it was Bakura that had saved her from the rest of the villagers. "That's why I owe him my life." Anika ended. "If he hadn't helped me, Khalil and I would surely have been killed." Atem shook his head.

"You don't owe him anything. Maybe if he was on our side and not trying to come after you, you could surely repay him somehow. But this time, he's hurt you, and he's trying to get at something that not his, you can't owe him anything. He's using that story as an excuse, a shortcut, possibly." There was a long pause. Atem lowered his voice. "I understand why you feel the way that you do. But now he's the enemy." Atem walked over and put his hand on Anika's shoulder. Anika was tense, but Atem's touch made her relax a bit. "Everything will be fine. We're making the next move, Anika. Soon this situation will be over and dealt with." Anika tensed up again.

"It's not that simple." she said.

"I know." Atem barely got the words out of his mouth before Anika backed away a little.

"Atem!" She shot. "Bakura will stop at nothing to kill you!" She fell back into Atem's arms, sobbing. Atem held her and stroked her hair.

"I know... He's persistent." He whispered to Anika. "But I promise nothing is going to happen to anyone, or anything. Especially you. And I'll stand my ground even if the odds are against us. Against all of us." He held her back a little and wiped the tears from her face. No later, Shada came in.

"Prince Atem," he said. "We couldn't find a trace of Bakura.

"He escaped." Atem said, slightly annoyed. "Persistent and tricky." He thought for a moment. "Alright, since Bakura can't be found now, we'll head back to the palace. We'll just have to keep an extra keen lookout for him. A very good eye so we can make the next move before he does.

"Yes, sir!" the guards responded in near unison.

"Let's go." Atem said to Anika, leading him back to his horse. Anika got on first with Atem behind her. "Hand me the reigns?" she asked. Anika leaned by the horse's bit and grabbed the dangling reign to hand to Atem. "Maybe we can talk later tonight, ok?" he suggested as he held the reign with both hands. His arms were on either sides of Anika. She blushed slightly, but nodded.

"Yeah." She answered softly.

"Alright, men!" he called over his shoulder. "Let's head out!" as Atem's horse took of with the snap of the reigns. All his men did the same and followed him back to the palace.

About an hour had passed since she arrived back to the palace. She wanted the night to start falling immediately. Apparently it wasn't falling fast enough for her, even though the sun was starting to dip from its high position in the sky. "Maybe Mana or Khalil are around..." Anika began searching for either of them without any luck. "So the deal with these two villages." She heard Atem speak as she neared the meeting room. "Since they are fighting and stealing, we should go down there to sort things out. And if needed---" that was all that Anika heard as she walked away from the room.

Anika began walking up and down the halls, looking for either her brother or Mana. No one seemed to be around. Anika had her head down when Mana found her walking.

"There you are!" Mana called out. Anika turned. Mana smiled a little, but it turned into a calm, yet concerned look. "Are you ok?" Mana asked quietly. Anika nodded slowly.

"I never seem to stay out of the excitement, don't I?" She mentioned, in a way, slightly scolding herself for stirring things up. Anika started talking about what happened at her village. Afterwards, Mana began to talk about how herd the last of her lessons were, just for a different subject, an attempt to cheer the girl up. As they were talking, Atem came up to them. He didn't look too happy.

"Something the matter?" Anika asked.

Atem sighed, "We just got more news about two villages that are fighting. A rumor started about someone nearly killing someone else." Both girls gasped. "We're going to figure things out, and it probably will take the rest of the night. I have to leave in the morning. I'm very sorry, Anika, we can't talk tonight." Anika smiled and shook her head.

"Don't be sorry, things come up. I understand." Atem smiled.

"thanks, I needed that." Anika stood and gave him a hug. "I needed that, too."

"Group hug!" Mana exclaimed, putting her arms around both of them. Everyone laughed at the spontaneity of the moment.

"I think we all needed that." Mana said, letting go of the two.

"When I go off to the villages to work out the situation, don't go wandering around, alright, Anika? I want you to stay here, where it's safe." He winked, making a small joke. Anika was a bit tense, but it seemed that whatever Atem did made her a little calmer as she let out a small chuckle.

"Yes, I'll stay." She answered.

"Good." Atem said. He looked slightly behind Anika, and saw Khalil coming up behind Anika very quietly. Atem smiled, and tried not to laugh. Anika looked at him funny, now suspicious.

"What is so-- Ahh!" she let out a small yell as Khalil grabbed her waist. "Hello, there." She said, looking down at him.

"Where were you earlier today?" Khalil asked.

"Just out." She answered. Khalil had a feeling that Anika was in danger, and Anika knew that. However, she didn't want her little brother to worry. She turned back to Atem.

"Get plenty of rest!" she smiled.

Atem nodded, "Will do. I should get back to the meeting now, the break is probably long over."

"See you tomorrow morning?" Anika asked.

"If our paths meet, yes."

Mana, Anika, and Khalil watched Atem leave for a moment before talking once again. Mana whispered,

"So what were you and the prince going to talk about?" a sly smile was on her lips. Hoping the answer would be something juicy. Anika shrugged.

"Oh well, you know, nothing important."

Atem yawned as he made his way back to his room. It was dark outside, probably midnight. He stopped short to take a quick look at Anika. He slowly pulled back the curtain and peered inside. No Anika. A flashback of the day's events whizzed through his mind. "She safe, she's safe, she's safe." Atem mouthed, calming himself down. He knew that he had to only check one place: the roof. As he got to the last step, he saw something lying on the roof. Atem let out one light chuckle as he closed on Anika. Though it was dark, he could still see her face. She looked so peaceful. The prince gently picked her up and carried her back to her room. "Sleep well, Anika. See you in the morning." He bent down to kiss her, but she turned over before he had the chance. Atem smiled and softly touched her cheek before making his way to his own bed across the hall.

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Far from the palace in his secret hiding place, Bakura was recovering from Mahad's spell, which had somehow slightly weakened him. He shook his arms, and stretched.

"Alright..." he began. "Time to go down to those two villages and see how my plan is working..."

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It was bright and early in the morning as Anika tiredly made her way to the stables. She stood near Atem and his horse, stretching every once and a while.

"This shouldn't take long." Atem told Anika. "When I get back, we'll figure it all out, and then work on some things, if you wish." Anika knew what he meant by "some things" and nodded her head. Her power and how to control them. "Alright then. Let's move out!" he instructed as he and his group of all the priests and a few guards all rode off into the distance.

"Be safe." Anika murmured.

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Atem and about a dozen other men were closing in on the two neighboring, and arguing, villages. A cloud of smoke was seen on the horizon before the men on horseback were visible. Some people noticed the dust cloud increase in size as the men drew nearer.

"It's the Prince!" a villager shouted, once he saw someone coming closer. Both villages crowded outside to meet Atem and the priests. Both villages were very nice, only a wide road separated them. Once they had arrived, the same man said, "Please, sire, please help us to resolve this problem." he bowed slightly. Atem nodded. All the men got off of their horses and stood in the wide street between the markets.

"We'll get to the bottom of this." He assured the man. "Now, this all started with a stolen horse, correct?" many people nodded. "Does anyone know who it was that stole the horse?" Everyone looked at each other, but no one seemed to know.

"It was someone not from either village, an outsider." A woman's voice said.

"Stop covering the truth!" another woman responded. Everyone started arguing and throwing blames on each other.

"Everyone, please, settle down!" Atem yelled over all the noise. It was almost immediately silent. Atem drew in a long breath. "Now then..." he began. There was then a small bird-like chirping noise heard. The villagers all let out some type of gasp or scream as many robed men suddenly surrounded all the villagers, swords in hand and pointing to almost everyone. No one moved. They were Bakura's men, Atem and the priests knew in an instant. No later had everyone been surrounded, Bakura appeared in the wide road between the villages.

"Long time no see, Prince," Bakura said, spitting out the last word.

"Impossible..." Mahad whispered. Mahad had figured that Bakura would have broken the spell, but it should have weakened him considerably. Here Bakura stood as if he was never put under a spell at all.

"What business do you have here?" Atem demanded. Bakura shrugged.

"I had to get you here somehow." Atem was silent.

'Was this all a setup?' he thought.

"We'll soon see how mighty his majesty is."

"How dare you defile--" Seto broke in.

"Seto, stop!" Atem exclaimed as some of Bakura's men drew closer to the villagers.

"I have some questions to ask you." Bakura said in a serious tone. He waited a bit, "Do you ever doubt your strength?" he finally asked. Atem did not move or answer. "Do you wonder how you will make it as a Pharaoh?"

'He's trying to corrupt my mind, like he tried Anika's.' Atem thought as Bakura went on. "Do you think that you can save, or even protect, all these people at once?" Atem looked around him, seeing everyone scared with sharp points only mere inches from their faces.

"What are you trying to get at?"

"This is going to be the ultimate battle." Bakura explained. "To see who is stronger." He smirked. "To see who has the strength to rule over this country, with everything attached."

"If you think you're going to win over this country, _my_ country, over a single battle, you're sadly mistaken." Atem declared.

"If you don't fight, I'll wipe out these entire villages." Bakura threatened. Atem looked around again. After waiting not even a minute, Bakura announced. "Time's up!" a robed man held up his hand, holding a small round object.

"No! He's got another smoke pellet!" Shada exclaimed. He tried to stop the man from throwing it on the ground, but it was too late. A thick cloud covered the area. Many people coughed.

"Prince Atem!" all the priests cried in almost unison. There was no answer. Once the smoke cleared, Bakura and Atem was nowhere to be found.

"Where did they go?" Seto questioned.

"They vanished, just like before..." Shada stated. At the same time, Bakura's men had slightly backed away, as there was a long exhale from everyone. "We have to keep these people safe..." Shada said.

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Anika was back at the palace, talking with Mana as Khalil continued playing. Anika suddenly shuddered.

"Are you ok?" Mana asked.

"I'm fine, it was just a chill." Anika smiled a little. Mana nodded. "Atem..." Anika thought. "Please, be safe."

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Atem opened his eyes to find himself in a large, dimly lit room. The room was twice as long as it was wide. There were a few pillars, along with two huge doorways. There were large platforms near each of these doorways. Atem was on one of them. It seemed like a giant pit twenty to thirty feet below. He looked from side to side, wondering how he got where he was.

"Now that you're fully aware of your surroundings, shall we begin?" Bakura's voice said. Atem turned to see Bakura facing him from the other side of the room. He was on the opposite platform.

"What are you up to now, Bakura?" Atem asked.

"There are many details, but it's quite simple." He paused before continuing. "We are going to have a duel to see who's stronger, who's more fit to rule this land, and who is willing to sacrifice what to get... or keep... what they what." Atem clenched his fist.

"That seemed simple, so what are the details?" he demanded. Bakura smiled.

"If I win this battle, I become Pharaoh, no one gets hurt. Except you, of course and maybe you little girlfriend." He snickered.

Atem clenched both fists now. 'I'll never let him harm Anika!' Atem calmed down quickly before asking, "And if I win?"

"If you win, you keep your title, but as soon as my men see that you've won, they will extinguish every life in those two villages." Atem scoffed.

"What kind of ruler destroys his own people?"

"What's a few people? Your palace would be cleaned out as well." Bakura shrugged and paused again. "Don't worry, I won't destroy _all_ the people." He said slyly. Atem knew immediately he was referring to Anika.

"Don't you lay a single hand on her..." he muttered.

There was a slight rumble within the shadows of the area. Atem tensed a bit and took a small step back. Diabound was suddenly visible and snaked through the room violently before resting beside Bakura.

"Enough small talk." Bakura stated. "Let's begin."

'Bakura must not have thought this plan out thoroughly.' Atem thought. "Diabound is strong, but he must have forgotten I can summon an Egyptian God." Atem let a small smirk appear on his lips.

"All right Bakura, I'll play your game. And I'll protect every life at the same time." He raised his arm to show his diadiakh, and then he brought it in front of his face in one giant motion. "Obelisk the Tormentor, come forth!" Atem yelled as his diadiakh glowed as a blue light appeared on Atem's side of the room. Tension was high as both yelled out,

"Get ready to lose!"

Atem stared angrily at Bakura. 'I have to end this quickly. Who knows what plans Bakura has up his sleeve.'

"First attack honors are mine," Bakura declared.

"Loosing will be yours, too." Atem muttered, preparing to fight. Bakura chuckled.

"There's more to this game than you think Prince..." Bakura quickly stated before yelling,

"Diabound, attack!" Diabound shot a ray of dark energy towards Atem and Obelisk. Atem shouted,

"Obelisk! Counter---!" then suddenly stopped, he sensed something wrong, and he could barely move. "C-counter attack!" he managed to choke out. But it was too late. Obelisk could only half-defend him self against the attack. Obelisk was hit. Atem went down on his knees, clutching his chest. "What... just--" he said in a harsh whisper. He looked behind him to Obelisk. A dark green mist floated around. It was some sort of spell. Not only that, the room they were in was too small for Obelisk to move freely like Diabound. Atem looked around, thinking of a way to get out of the mess he was in.

"Better make your move before it happens."

"Before what happens?" Atem asked, beginning to stand up.

"Attack again, Diabound!" Atem took a step back.

"No!" Atem yelled. "Obelisk-" He looked again. Obelisk was still stuck.

"Too little, too late!" Bakura laughed as Diabound's attack hit Obelisk. Atem yelled out in pain as he went on his knees again. He was running out of energy, and fast.

'This wasn't supposed to happen.' Atem thought. 'Only two attacks and I'm on my knees and can't get up. Even though all of Bakura's tricks, his Diabound seems stronger. What else has Bakura done to tip this fight in his favor?' Bakura began to speak,

"I told you my plan was simple, but had many details. I did happen to leave some out. Oops. Sorry." The last two words mocked the prince. Atem coughed.

"Like what?" he muttered angrily.

"The fight between the two villages was a way to get you where I wanted, and also, it was a distraction." Bakura explained. Atem glared at him. "Diabound increased his strength through training and sacrifice."

"Sacrifice?" Atem echoed. "You don't mean--"

"A strong Pharaoh has to make a few sacrifices to become stronger, doesn't he?" Bakura laughed.

"You're a monster." Atem growled.

"And you're about to lose your title!" Bakura declared.

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Anika suddenly sensed something wrong. She stood and walked to the door.

"I'll... be right back." She told Mana and Khalil with a smile. She quickly went to the roof and looked over to the horizon. "Atem..." Anika said. "I don't know what's going on, but please, be safe. Don't give up!"

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Atem heard Anika calling out to him, he stood, glaring at Bakura.

'I won't let you down, Anika.' he thought, as he turned away from Bakura. "Obelisk! Return." Atem ordered, as Obelisk disappeared.

"Giving up already?" Bakura asked.

"On the contrary, I'm just warming up." Atem shot the look in his eyes had intensified greatly. "Slifer the Sky Dragon! Help me win this fight!" he yelled out as his diadiakh glowed once more. Slifer appeared in place if Obelisk. "New strength and a new strategy." Atem smiled. "This is where things get interesting."

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Isis's Millennium Necklace began to glow as she received a vision.

"Seto." She called to him. Seto turned to her and nodded, waiting for her to continue. "I just had a vision." She began to explain. "Sometime while we are here, all of Bakura's men will attack the villagers."

"Hmmm..." was Seto's response. "Mahad, Shada," he called. "We have another situation on our hands."

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Bakura looked at Slifer, then to Atem. He was looking around quickly, planning something.

"Changing your strategy at the end of a battle?" He questioned.

"A minor change of plans." Atem explained. "I don't think your tricks can work with Slifer the Sky Dragon."

"We'll see about that." Bakura snickered.

"We will see. We'll see that I may have a trick of my own, Bakura." Atem thought. Atem had a plan and was about to put it into action. "Slifer!" Atem called out. "Thunderbolt attack!" Slifer opened his mouth as a ball of light emerged and shot to Bakura's side.

"Winding Shield!" Bakura responded quickly. Diabound projected a blue barricade, only to have it be blasted through by Slifer. The impact knocked Bakura down. "Frontal assault!" Bakura said, getting up. Diabound moved closer to Atem.

"Fine by me." Atem replied and sent Slifer to do the same. Diabound and Slifer circled each other in the large room, trying to find a point to strike. Slifer quickly circled Diabound and went to strike. Diabound quickly moved out of the way but was hit by Slifer's tail. Before Slifer could get another attack in, Diabound quickly blasted him. Both sides were formidable as Atem and Bakura yelled out commands, one after another. Once both monster and human alike were getting worn, they stopped the frontal attacks. Atem and Bakura were breathing hard, Atem looked a bit weary.

"Feeling light-headed, Prince?" Bakura mocked. Atem shot him an angry glance. "I have plenty of fight left, Bakura." Atem assured him. "Slifer as well!" he claimed as Slifer wound around the room between Atem and Bakura. A faint light appeared on Atem's side, a faint "coo" was heard, but ignored. Once Slifer had returned to Atem's side, Bakura noticed Atem was hunched over.

"He didn't use his energy wisely." Bakura chuckled to himself. "Diabound..." he said to his monster, "Gather enough strength to destroy the pathetic excuse for a Prince!" Atem looked up quickly, sudden panic made his eyes wide.

"Slifer, be ready!" Atem gasped. Slifer shifted and prepared to counter attack.

"This is the end!" Bakura yelled. "Diabound, DESTROY!" Diabound aimed for Atem and was about to attack. He leaned back to thrust out a wave of energy. As he was about to move forward, a small ball of fur popped in Diabound's view, letting out a small "coo" sound as before. The small creature bounced around in Diabound's view, entirely obscuring it at times. Bakura looked back behind him. "NOW! Helical Shockwave!" Bakura yelled at Diabound. The attack was powerful, almost too powerful for Diabound to handle. The wave of energy went to Atem's side of the room, but missed entirely. The attack made the area shake violently. Large slabs of rock fell from the ceiling. A select few of the pillars trembled and other cracked considerably. Bakura got much weaker from that play. "What was that?" he growled, stumbling a step forward. He saw the brown little creature make its way to the other side of the room.

"That..." Atem chuckled. "was Kuriboh." He simply said as he stood completely erect. "Thank you." Atem said to Kuriboh flew over to him and disappeared. Kuriboh gave Atem a bit of extra energy as he left. The prince inhaled deeply, ready for another assault on the enemy.

"Nice trick." Bakura mumbled angrily after his attack didn't work. Kuriboh had distracted Diabound, making him loose focus and wasted energy with his most powerful attack. He saw Atem had fooled him to thinking he was weaker as well. Still, Atem was a bit fatigued. "However, that stunt you pulled is only prolonging your defeat." Bakura mentioned. Atem had gotten a small amount of energy back from Kuriboh, but he was still not at his strongest, and he was breathing a bit heavier. But he had to finish it here. He _had_ to.

"Bakura, now,_ this_ is the end! This last attack is for everyone who suffered because of your thieving ways!" Bakura looked up at Atem.

"I saved your girlfriend! You should be grateful." He smirked when he saw Atem's movement back. Anika obviously had told him something about that night.

Atem shouted back, "That may be, however, you have nullified that deed with trying to kidnap her, not to mention destroying her village! That's unforgivable!"

"You have no idea what she can do. You've seen her powers. What would happen if she lost control? Many lives would be lost. It's still not too late, prince." Bakura suggested. "You can still give her over to me. Save you... a little bit of trouble."

"Never."

"You're stubborn." Bakura groaned. Atem knew he was talking to waste time so he could regain some energy.

'I need to make him think he has the upper hand.' The prince thought. 'He's pretty overconfident already, trying to make me have second thoughts about Anika...'

"Could it be that you... love her?" Bakura's voice slammed into Atem's thoughts hard. His heart skipped a beat, breath quickened ever so slightly.

'Don't slip up now!' Atem warned himself. "Love is a strong word, Bakura." He told him. "I don't 'love' Anika, but she has grown close to me. It's something a thief would never understand."

Bakura laughed. "That's a lie! You shouldn't lie to the people of Egypt, prince. It won't look good towards the--"

"Slifer! Muster all the strength that you can and attack with Dual Lightning Blast!" Slifer opened his mouth to release the attack. Bakura was caught off guard, his overconfidence got the best of him. Slifer's attack was headed straight for him and Diabound.

"D-Diabound," Bakura ordered, stuttering at first. "Let's finish this with Capture and Rebound Defense!" Diabound opened his arms wide as a translucent shield appeared. "It's over!" Bakura exclaimed. Slifer's attack was caught right in Diabound's trap. Atem let a small smile appear on his face. "All according to plan." He thought. Bakura had his arm outreached as he commanded, "Now Diabound, return Slifer's attack and--" he stopped to see a second attack coming towards him.

"'Dual' is in 'two separate attacks' not 'doubled power'!" Atem explained simply as Bakura took a step back; his trap had not caught Atem, but Bakura himself.

"No! This was not how it was supposed to be!" he yelled as Slifer's second blast collided with his first in Diabound's trap. Both attacks exploded immediately on impact, creating a blinding light. Slifer's double attack made the room shake violently. Bakura had lost everything as Diabound was destroyed. Diabound let out a final cry as he shattered in the light.

"It's over." Atem said softly as he dropped to one knee. He heard Bakura scream at him.

"This isn't where it ends! I'll be back and I'll achieve what is mine!" Atem breathed heavily as the light faded away. He stood, staggered, and looked over to the other side of the room. Bakura, as far as Atem could tell, was face-down and unmoving.

"Let it be known," he began. "Egypt is safe from true evil." Dark spirits took care of the rest as Bakura slowly faded away and finally disappeared. He turned to Slifer. "Thank you, Slifer the Sky Dragon." Atem said, bowing slightly. "Egypt will rest peacefully tonight because of you and Obelisk the Tormenter." Slifer gave a short roar and returned to his domain. "Now to get out of here..." Atem sighed. A gasp escaped him as a rumble was heard behind him. He turned to see a trap door revealing a secret passage opened along the wall. Atem looked around for another exit. Nothing. This was the only way. Atem nodded and went through. It was like a maze inside. Nearly pitch black darkness, with only his hand tracing the walls to guide him. He took a left, a right, and hit a dead end. "Well this is going perfectly." He mumbled, unpleased with his situation. After retracing his steps, and what seemed like more than an hour, he stubbed his toe. He cried out in pain, feeling what he hit on the floor. A staircase. He followed it up, took the only turn he could, and he could see sunlight through cracks in the door. He forcefully pushed one open, sending it across the Egyptian sand. He climbed out of the darkness and into the bright open desert. Atem shielded his eyes from the bright sun as he escaped the underground room. "Now that that's over..." Atem began. "Time to figure out how to get back." He looked to the sky once again. It was after midday, the sun was headed to where it would set on the horizon. Atem knew that the palace faced south, so he had to make sure that the sun would always be to his right as he headed north. Atem only hoped he wasn't too far away, and that he wouldn't miss his target. "I should have asked Bakura for directions." Atem gave a small chuckle to amuse himself. "But knowing him, he would have lied." Atem said as he followed his own direction.

Back at the twin villages, Isis and the other priests were tense. They did not know where Atem was, plus Isis had predicted that Bakura's men were going to attack, the question was when.

"Never let your guard down." Shada had instructed. "We need to be ready, for these people's sake."

Atem had been walking for quite some time as he approached a large dune. There was no way to go but up. Even though he was exhausted, Atem climbed the sandy dune. Once he was at the top, Atem's eyes widened and he smiled a bit when he saw what lie on the other side. The two villages! Atem let out a sigh of relief. Everyone in the area saw Atem appear over the hill.

"It's Prince Atem!" they exclaimed.

"Thank Ra." The prince said. "I won over Bakura, I didn't get lost, and everyone's safe." He took a step forward before panic caught him.

_"If you win, you keep your title, but as soon as my men see that you've won, they will extinguish every life in those two villages."_ Bakura's voice echoed in his mind.

"No..." Atem whispered.

"You know the plan, right?" One of Bakura's men said to the others. The army was still surrounding the villagers. The robed men all nodded. "Right." The same man said. "Kill them all!!" he shouted.

"No!" Atem shouted as he helplessly ran down the dune.

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(A/N:) Dun dun dun _DUN! _Well, this is going to be interesting. Not a huge cliff-hanger. (Do you think so?) When I was first writing these, they were in parts of 500 words or so, and at the end was something of a cliff-hanger. I hope to update more often, since I won't have to edit so much (I can tell where I started to write better with this! XD less editing = happy me = more frequent updates = happy you) Hope you enjoyed this chapter! I'll work on the next one soooooon!

~DQ64~


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